February 7, 2018 - ChaddsFordLive.com

Concord preparing recusal response

Local News, Local News Chadds Ford, Local News Concord, Local News Pennsbury

Concord Township solicitor Hugh Donaghue said a response to an attorney’s request that council recuse itself from a land development hearing should be finalized sometime next week. Donaghue made the comment during the Feb. 6 Township Council meeting.

Attorney Marc Kaplin petitioned on Jan. 29 that council recuse itself from hearing the application of Concord Ventures proposal to build 29 townhouses in six buildings and 166 apartment units in three five-story buildings on 49 acres of a 64-acre property west of Route 202 at Watkin Avenue near the Delaware state line.

Kaplin said at the time that Donaghue, Council President Dominic Pileggi, township engineer Nate Cline and former Township Manager Brenda Lamanna engaged in ex parte communication with Marc Jonas, an attorney representing objectors to the plan and that council has a “predisposition and bias” against his client’s application. “It violated due process.”

Township Planning Commission members voted earlier in the month to recommend council not approve the plan.

Kaplin asked that an independent hearing officer replace council in the matter.

Donaghue said the response would be available to the public once it’s filed with the township. He wouldn’t speculate on what Kaplin would do if the request for recusal were denied.

Concord had a 20-day window to respond to Kaplin’s petition from the time he made it on Jan. 29. Council had already decided to continue the hearing to Feb. 27.

Kaplin cited in his petition there were 10 instances of ex parte communication with Jonas through emails and phone calls and that he (Kaplin) only learned of the occurrences when his client was sent invoices for the time township consultants and professionals spent reviewing the plan.

According to Kaplin, one of the instances was a 2.5-hour conference call between Pileggi, Lamanna, Donaghue and Jonas on July 5. Pileggi said he was not involved in any such conference call and Donaghue said there was no such call at all.

Jonas said Kaplin’s claims are “factually inaccurate and nothing more than a stunt.”

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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Free course on orchids

Arts & Entertainment

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After-The-Bell plans fundraiser

School & Education

Anchor Group — After-The-Bell plans fundraiser

The Kennett After-School Association has announced that their annual fundraiser, in support of their After-The-Bell program, will be held next month in the heart of Kennett Square and will feature A Taste Of Kennett. The event is scheduled for Friday, March 9 from 7-10 p.m. at Holly Peters Oriental Rugs & Home, 109 South Broad Street.

“As we begin our 20th year, we truly believe that After-The-Bell has become part of the fabric of this wonderful Kennett community,” said KASA President Rudy Karkosak. “More than 5,000 students have benefitted from the commitment of hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers and contributors from this unique and generous community. And so we feel that THE TIME IS NOW to celebrate all that Kennett has to offer. We invite the community to join in this celebration.”

The After-The-Bell Fundraiser, entitled The Time Is Now, will feature food and libations provided by many local establishments, including The Country Butcher, Floga Bistro, Franks Wines, Hearth Kitchen, Kennett Brewing Company, the Kennett Square Inn, Nomadic Pies, and Talula’s Table, with more to be added. Music will be provided by Marlboro Road.

The silent auction to be offered at the event will continue the Taste of … theme with baskets featuring a taste of food and culture from around the world, and baskets that celebrate a taste of the seasons. The auction will also include Super Bowl champion Eagles tickets, timeshares, artwork, and other great items.

Tickets for the event are $60 per person and must be purchased in advance. Tickets are available online at www.afterthebell.org or www.atasteofkennett.eventbrite.com. For more information or to receive an invitation, please email executivedirector@afterthebell.org or call the After-The-Bell office at 610-268-5889.

Special Note – Whether you are able to attend or not, this year we are making it possible for people to sponsor a volunteer or a teacher to attend this event. We have many dedicated volunteers who are retirees and/or are living on fixed incomes, as well as teachers from Kennett Middle School who have provided wonderful support for After-The-Bell. If you would like to purchase one or more tickets to make it possible for volunteers or teachers to attend, please email executivedirector@afterthebell.org

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Police Log Feb 7: Accidents, DUIs, drug arrests

Police

Pennsylvania State Police

• Margo L. Davidson, 55, of Lansdowne, was injured in a two-vehicle accident and cited for driving while her license was suspended, according to a state police report. The accident happened on Concord Road near Thornton Road in Concord Township on Feb. 2 at 8:02 p.m. Police said Davidson tried pulling out of a driveway onto Concord Road and struck a vehicle already in the roadway. She was taken to Riddle Memorial Hospital complaining of a neck injury. The other driver was taken to Crozer Chester Hospital with injuries to his neck and left arm.

• State police said they arrested Nicholas Ryan Altman, 27, of Kemblesvile, after a Jan. 31 traffic stop on Route 1 at Applied Bank Boulevard. The report said Altman was stopped for traffic violations but arrested for giving false identification. There was also an active warrant for his arrest for heroin possession, police said.

• Ruth A. Jarin, 80, of Wilmington, was cited after the vehicle she was driving struck another car from behind on Route 202 near Springwater Plaza, police said. The accident happened 7:43 p.m. on Jan. 31.

• State police from the Avondale barracks said they arrested Richard Hendricks, 26, of Kennett Square for DUI on Jan. 13. A report said Hendricks was stopped for traffic violations while driving on W. Linden Street in Kennett Square.

• Kevin D. Boddy, 59, was cited following a one-vehicle crash on Route 1 north of Route 82 on Jan. 26, state police said. According to the police report, Boddy was driving a 2007 Kenworth Fleet south on Route 1 when the truck ran off the road, into a grassy median and struck a guidewire. The accident happened 10:21 a.m.

• Police said speed was the cause of an accident on W. Street Road in West Marlborough Township on Jan. 31. A report said Acacia L. Shedenhelm, 32, struck a slower moving vehicle from behind while driving in the eastbound lanes at 7:30 a.m.

• James David, 61, of Aston was taken into custody for DUI on Jan. 4, according to a report from the state police Avondale barracks. The incident happened 1:01 a.m. on E. Baltimore Pike near Village Lane in East Marlborough Township. Police gave no other details.

Southern Chester County Regional Police Department

• Southern Chester County Regional police said Luis E. Lopez-Barajas, 23, of Wilmington, was charged with several traffic offenses connected to leaving the scene of a reportable accident. The incident happened 12:30 a.m. Jan. 20 on Sheehan Road, north of Gap Newport Pike, in New Garden Township. Police arrived at the scene to find a Chevrolet Lumina with heavy front-end damage caused when it left the roadway and struck a tree. Large amounts of blood inside and outside of the vehicle were present but the driver was not, and he had not contacted police as required by law. With assistance from the New Castle County Police Department, contact was made with the registered owner, Lopez- Barajas. He was interviewed by police and admitted to being the driver of the involved vehicle and to being injured in the crash, according to the police report.

• Police said Larry W. Tucker, 35, and Carol C. Tucker, 67, both of Avondale, were arrested on drug charges as well as with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, after the Honda sedan they were in was stopped for erratic driving. The incident occurred Jan. 21 at 10:04 p.m. in the 1000 block of Newark Road, in New Garden Township. Police said they saw the vehicle make two wide turns and then cross over the center line. Upon making contact with the driver, Carol Tucker, police detected the strong odor of marijuana emanating from within the vehicle. When police walked behind the vehicle to make contact with the passenger, Larry Tucker, they saw him taking a bag out of his pocket and handing it to the driver, the report said. Police then saw the driver place the clear bag containing suspected marijuana in her coat. A searchrevealed additional marijuana and a clear bag containing Adderall pills.

• Brenda M. Gonzalez-Mondragon, 21, of Avondale, was arrested and charged with DUI and related traffic offenses, following a traffic stop for erratic driving, according to a police press release. The incident occurred 3:03 a.m. on Jan. 21, in the 100 block of Starr Road, in New Garden Township. Field sobriety tests confirmed impairment and police took Gonzalez-Mondragon into custody.

About CFLive Staff

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Democrat to challenge Barrar for 160th

Local News, Local News Chadds Ford, Local News Concord, Local News Pennsbury, Local News Pocopson

Anton Andrew announced in a press release today that he will seek election to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives. Andrew will be seeking to unseat Republican incumbent Stephen Barrar representing the 160th district, which covers parts of Chester and Delaware counties. The district includes Kennett Square, Pennsbury, and Pocopson Townships in Chester County, as well as Chadds Ford, Concord, Bethel and part of Upper Chichester Townships in Delaware County.

“We need real solutions to the structural deficit in the state budget,” Andrew said in the press release. “We need to properly fund our public schools without letting property taxes continue to skyrocket. We need to fix our ailing infrastructure because continuing to push off needed improvements harms both our safety and quality of life. We need to address inadequate protection for our land, air and water that future generations will rely on. And we need to address the ongoing opioid addiction crisis with urgency, clarity, and honesty. There is no doubt that we need real leadership in Harrisburg on the issues that matter most.”

Andrew graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science and has a law degree from Hofstra University. Andrew plans to build on his more than 20-year career as a successful advocate and attorney, primarily serving poor and working-class families. He has developed alternatives to incarceration for non-violent juvenile offenders. He has launched and led a successful incubator for small, minority, and women-owned businesses on the campus of the nation’s oldest historically black college or university.

He is a visionary educator who has served as an instructor and board chair at Open Connections, an educational resource center in Newtown Square. And he has served on the boards of several local and regional environmental organizations, including The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County and The Nature Conservancy.

“I will fight for our community, our children and all Pennsylvania taxpayers by not shrinking from the difficult decisions that need to be made to ensure our future. I will fight for the residents of the 160th district and our Commonwealth,” Andrew said.

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U-CF schools closed Feb. 7

School & Education

All Unionville-Chadds Ford schools will be closed today, Wednesday, Feb. 7. Offices will open at noon. Given the timing and nature of this storm, the district feels the safest course of action is to close for today. The district will provide an update on the status of after school and evening activities by 1 p.m.

Garnet Valey and Kennett schools are also closed today.

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