The Sept. 2 Board of Supervisors’ meeting for Chadds Ford
Township was dominated with a hearing for a massage therapy business.

Don Lim, the applicant, said he wants to operate his
business from the site of a current carpet store at Woodland Drive and Route
202.

Lim testified that he has been licensed as a massage
therapist in New York for nine years and will move into the community here if
the board approves his application.

 He said that he will provide massage therapy only and that
he will start his business as the only person giving massage. Should he want to
hire other massage therapists, he said he would submit their names and
information to the township as required by township code.

 He agreed to a stipulation that the township could shut him
down should he hire a therapist without township approval.

 Lim said he is a graduate of the Helma Institute of Massage Therapy in Saddle
Brook, N.J. and testified that he has no criminal convictions in New
York. He also said he understands and authorizes Chadds Ford Township to
investigate his background.

 Township solicitor Hugh Donaghue asked most of the questions,
but Supervisors George Thorpe and Deborah Love, and Township manager Joe
Barakat and Code Enforcement Officer Rich Jensen also questioned Lim.

 Jensen wanted to know where Lim would be living and Barakat
asked for business tax records. Doubts were raised as to the viability of the
business and what was the length of his lease for the property.

 Lim’s attorney, Brian Nagle, objected to some of the
questions saying they were irrelevant to the ordinance requiring the special
treatment of massage business applicants in Chadds Ford.

 Donaghue noted Nagle’s objection, but rhetorically asked
what would happen if Lim couldn’t make enough money to pay the rent.

 The board has 90 days from the date of the application in
which to decide. Lim agreed to provide supervisors with a copy of his massage
license from New York, his certificate from the Helma Institute and proof that
he ran a massage business in New York.

 Chadds Ford Township enacted the ordinance requiring
stricter scrutiny of prospective massage businesses in the township after it
was learned in 2002 that a former massage parlor, The Lucky Spa, was a front
for prostitution.

 Other business

• The board unanimously appointed Christine Ferry the new
township secretary/treasurer. She replaces Maryann Furlong who resigned the end
of July after seven years with the township.

 • Barakat, who is also the township’s roadmaster and
emergency management coordinator, announced that the Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation would implement, on Sept. 4, a new information system, 511PA.

Motorists can phone 511 to get 24-hour information in
traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts and regional tourism information.

The service is free and may be accessed on either mobile or
landline telephones and may also be reached on the web at www.511PA.com.

 Barakat also noted that September is National Preparedness
Month and provided a handout on what to include in a basic emergency kit.