A relatively brief agenda for Kennett Square Borough Council on Monday, April 18, portended a short meeting, but it was not to be.

The majority of the meeting was devoted to a proposal for 416-418 West State Street. Architect Dennis Melton explained that his client, Chris Sotiropoulos, wants to demolish the existing duplex and construct a new building to accommodate three businesses. The problem is complying with the required number of parking spaces.

Sotiropoulos has commitments for three businesses in the building: a dentist, an attorney, and a dental lab. Sotiropoulos, knowing that the borough is interested in generating more business, stated, “I was trying to come up with something better for the community.”

Council President Danilo Maffei expressed his belief that “it’s our job to build more business, not duplexes.” Borough Council agreed that they liked the project, but that they also needed to be consistent with parking space regulations. Maffei suggested that Sotiropoulos and Melton generate more creative ideas to satisfy the parking requirements and return with a revised plan.

In other business, Borough Manager Joseph Scalise presented a five-year projection for the borough’s Capital Improvement Program. After hearing the presentation and looking at Scalise’s graph, Councilman Wayne Braffman said, “We’re actually doing pretty well,” and Councilman Jamie Mallon noted, “Investment is the infrastructure of our borough.” Councilman Ethan Cramer added: “We always need to keep paying attention to debt removal and take a measured approach.”

Scalise had more good news to share: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will pay 75 percent of the $32,000 the borough spent on the big snowstorm this past winter. And, in more positive news about saving money, he announced the borough has joined a national purchasing authority for large ticket items. Scalise also stated that Borough Council is looking to refinance its bonds and looking for reimbursement on lost parking revenue.

Mayor Matt Fetick shared a recent example of the benefits of a partnership approved earlier this month between the borough and Kennett Township police departments. Kennett Township Police pulled over a truck they suspected was over the weight limit and escorted the truck driver to a weighing station that was in operation in the borough.

The truck was more than 16,000 pounds overweight and fined $4,435. The fine was cut 50 percent for immediate payment. Once the state and court fees were subtracted, the borough and the township each received $554. That amount represented less than 30 minutes’ work for borough police, Fetick said.

The council heard a request from the Kennett Area Restaurant and Merchants Association (KARMA) for a special event. KARMA member Lynn Sinclair said the association would like to sponsor a flea market every Saturday (weather permitting), from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Weinstein’s parking lot.

Normally, event applications are only presented to Borough Council when they require road closings, but since the borough owns the property, Scalise thought KARMA should approach the council. The event was approved with the contingency that the borough manager would assess the event each month and approve or not approve for the following month.

During the public comment portion at the beginning of the evening, resident John Thomas stated that West Whiteland Township has closed its dog park, and suggested that since the borough is considering two new dog parks, it look into what the problems were.

The borough will hold a spring cleanup, Saturday, April 23, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. For details, visit http://www.kennettsq.org/government/borough-directory.