Pocopson to review Barnard House proposals
At least three of the 19 companies who submitted proposals for the Barnard House feasibility study will have a chance to be interviewed by the Pocopson Township supervisors. The proposals specify renovations needed for re-purposing the building for use by the township and Kennett Underground Railroad.
Each of the supervisors will pick her top five proposals and send the list to Vice Chairman Elaine DiMonte, who will then look for commonalities and compile a list of possible companies for the board to interview before any kind of decision is made.
At the supervisors’ meeting Monday, DiMonte reported that she and Public Works Director Mark Knightly did 18 site visits at both the historic Barnard House and the township’s Denton Hollow facility. The site visits included walk-throughs and histories of the properties.
Chester County transferred the Barnard House property, including 68 acres and historic Eusebius Barnard House, to the township in 2008.
The township received 19 proposals in late February, ranging from $6,500 to $61,000, DiMonte said, and proposed project durations of six weeks to six months.
Some discussion at Monday’s supervisors’ meeting included seeking a determination on the type of report the board is looking for and moving forward from there. Supervisor Alice J. Balsama suggested creating a committee to oversee the study and project.
“One of the drivers to this is the fiduciary responsibility I have in this position,” she said. “We want to make the best decisions and create as many reasonable options. I can defend that to any resident.”
Other business
• The supervisors voted to donate $500 to the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance, which will hold a road cleanup in the township on April 29. Approximately 20 to 30 volunteers are needed at 8 a.m. that day to help pick up trash along several miles of roads like Route 842 and Northbrook, Corrine and Locust Grove roads, according to James Jordan, CEO of the BRCA.
The cleanup is envisioned to be an expansion of BRCA’s annual Brandywine Creek Clean-Up to include roads in Pocopson, he said. Interested volunteers can sign up online at www.brandywineredclay.org. BRCA will provide gloves, trash bags and safety vests. Sign-in on cleanup day will be at the BRCA parking lot at 1760 Unionville-Wawaset Road, according to Jordan.
Balsama asked Jordan and the BRCA to report back to Pocopson with the number of trash bags collected on township roads during the cleanup.
• Supervisors voted to send a flood plain ordinance to both the township solicitor and the county planning commission for their review. According to Supervisors’ Chairman Ricki Stumpo, the ordinance has to be adopted by September.
Township secretary Susan Simone said the proposed ordinance is based on a model ordinance sent to Pocopson by the state.
• The supervisors voted to allow Castle Valley Consultants of Pottstown to begin looking at updating Pocopson’s Act 537 wastewater treatment plan. Updates need to include the treatment plant at The Preserve at Chadds Ford, and also parcels at Corrine Village, according to Stumpo.
• Updates to the township’s Personnel Manual will be discussed at a future meeting.
About Monica Fragale
Monica Thompson Fragale is a freelance reporter who spent her life dreaming of being in the newspaper business. That dream came true after college when she started working at The Kennett Paper and, years later The Reporter newspaper in Lansdale and other dailies. She turned to non-profit work after her first daughter was born and spent the next 13 years in that field. But while you can take the girl out of journalism, you can’t take journalism out of the girl. Offers to freelance sparked the writing bug again started her fingers happily tapping away on the keyboard. Monica lives with her husband and two children in Kennett Square.
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