Farm not throwing in the towel, not yet
The Web site says it’s still going to cease operations, but that might not be the case for the Barn at Spring Brook Farm in Pocopson Township.
The farm is a non-profit organization that provides opportunities for children with disabilities who would benefit by participating in animal assisted activities, according to Executive Director Dan Stark.
But complaints over noise and traffic by one neighbor, and some code violations found by the township, have led to some difficulties for Spring Brook. Some of the violations have been corrected, but others remain. It has until September to bring everything up to code, but that may or may not be possible.
The board voted in May to cease operations as of Aug. 31 because it felt the work would be too expensive and take too long to complete, but late last week, Stark said, the board rethought the issue and now might file for an extension so operations could continue.
The 17-acre facility has been operating since 2006. It operates year-round, but there are six week-long camp sessions in the summer. At the facility, kids get to groom and feed animals with the assistance of volunteers. It’s a one-to-one ratio of one child to one volunteer.
Volunteer Evelyn Norton said there’s been a lot of success. She spoke of her work with one youngster, 8-year-old Alannah, who first came to Spring Brook as a 2-year-old who would have no interaction with other humans. But after working with the animals, feeding the goats especially, Alannah now talks to adults and other kids. Alannah is also adamant about spelling her name properly.
Camp activities had been held along the farm’s border with the Bruns residence. About two years ago, Stark said, complaints were made about noise. Spring Brook then moved the camp activities to an inner field, away from the neighbor.
But that complaint led to a hearing in which Spring Brook argued that the facility was a use by right, but the zoning officer ruled against them, Stark said.
Spring Brook then went to the Pocopson Zoning Hearing Board.
“During that time, we tried to work with the supervisors to revise the ordinance to incorporate what we do…That was unsuccessful,” Stark said.
A conditional use hearing followed. The outcome of that hearing led to approval for educational use, but with 33 conditions. One of those conditions was that the children can’t ride the horses. Another was that the facility needs a new certificate of occupancy.
The need for a new CO led to the inspection of the facilities in late January of this year. It was determined that the barn was out of compliance with the state Uniform Construction Code.
According to Stark, the enforcement officer’s letter said a new bathroom had to be installed, a new second-floor exit had to be put in the barn, different materials for the ramp were needed and new lighting had to be put in.
Some of the issues have been addressed, but others remain outstanding. While Spring Brook hasn’t yet sought bids on the remaining work, Stark estimates the cost to be anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000. Without a deadline extension, the work would have to be finished by the end of August for operations to continue.
The board sent a letter to everyone in Spring Brook’s database of about 1,200 people saying the facility could not continue to operate.
“At that point there was a public outpouring of support and concern,” Stark said. “Now we have all these people whom are willing to work pro bono,”
That group includes contractors and others willing to donate money.
“I think there’s some chance we’ll be able to do the work. We still need an extension from the supervisors. Our hope is that they’ll consider that extension and maybe give us more time. We originally estimated a year to get the work done, but I expect we can do that more expeditiously now that we have so many people willing to help,” Stark said.
The next township supervisors/ meeting is July 14 and Stark said the Spring Brook board has to, again, review the conditional use hearing to determine whether or not to seek the extension.
“The [Spring Brook] board has not reversed the decision it made to cease operations on Aug. 31. They made that decision, but they may reverse it,” he said.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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