August 7, 2024

• During the Aug. 6 meeting, Concord Township Council gave preliminary/final approval for an automated car wash at Routes 1 and 202. It granted conditional use approval for the project in July of 2023. The approval granted during the Aug. 6 council meeting including a payment of $1,265 fee-in-lieu for open space, as well as a $13,284 contribution is also required for stormwater control and maintenance.

• Township Treasurer and Finance Director Bill Kaelin gave a brief rundown on the 2023 budget, saying it was a clean audit report with no negative findings. To the concern of at least one audience member, he did say the township’s current total debt — township as a whole and the sewer department — is slightly more than $9 million. He said that is from two notes, the 2016 and the 2022, that are currently outstanding. He added that the average residential property owner paid $222 in township property taxes in 2023, but that will go up to $229 for 2024 because of the millage increase for the fire company. The firm of Leitzell and Economidis performs the township audit.

• Nate Cline, the township engineer, said the improvements on Route 1 at Schoolhouse Lane are winding down. The township has worked with. PennDOT to get a deceleration lane on the southbound side of Route 1 at Schoolhouse. The work also included preventing a left turn from Schoolhouse onto northbound Route 1. Cline said he had no official opening date, but that should come shortly.

Cline said the work replacing a culvert on Spring Valley Road hit a snag when “a water main was located where it was not supposed to be.” The township is now looking to figure out options on how to proceed.

Council Co-Vice President John Gillespie, a retired engineer, said he was at the Spring Valley site and said, “It looks to me that it’s going to be a while before that gets figured out.”

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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Addressing the Concord Township Council, Concordville Fire and Protective Association Deputy Chief Joe Hope gave a brief rundown on the fire company’s activities in the township.

During July, he said the company responded to 367 ambulance and EMS calls, 182 (or 49.5 percent) were in Concord. There were also 103 fire calls, with 46 (44.6 percent) in Concord. He added that for the year to date, 48.8 percent of the calls were in Concord Township.

In response to a question about personnel from Council President Dominic Pileggi, Hope said the fire company’s goal is to always have four paid firefighters on duty but admitted that’s not always possible.

“We’re predominantly running as a paid fire company. We have a small host of volunteers who are helping, but we are more and more depending on our paid people,” Hope said.

Additionally, he said, the company’s call rate is increasing.

“Last year we were well over 1,000 calls on the fire side and 500 calls on the ambulance side, but we already blowing those numbers out this year.” Roughly 45-50 percent of all calls are in Concord Township, he said.

Hope’s report came during the Aug. 6 Concord Township Council meeting.

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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