Kennett will explore creating a trail from Magnolia to Pennock Park
By Rick Marts, Correspondent, The Times
At Monday night’s working meeting, the Kennett Board of Supervisors enacted a new law governing the discharge of firearms in the township—Kennett Township Ordinance No. 225. BOS Chairman Scudder Stevens said, “The new ordinance tightened up some of the restrictions in the draft version of the law and made it less vulnerable to legal challenges.”
The new law will be effective on October 6, 2014.
David Sanders, the township’s solicitor, said, “We used language and restrictions that are based on authoritative sources such as Pennsylvania state hunting regulations. We also changed some of the distance restrictions affecting where residents could discharge their weapons.” “By doing that,” he said, “the new law will be much more difficult to challenge in court on the basis of the law being arbitrary.”
Sanders said, “For example, the new law prohibits discharging a firearm within 150 yards of a residential property. This was a very contentious restriction, we received many comments on it. But we are trying to protect against bullets entering adjacent properties as well as govern noise associated with firearm usage.”
In other business, the BOS paved the way for a establishing a trail between Magnolia Street in Kennett Square Borough and Herb Pennock baseball park in the township. The trail would be constructed over an easement through the Pia property west of the Borough and over the East Penn’s railroad tracks.
Details about the easement will need to be worked out among the township, the Pia family, and the railroad, but by passing a motion to authorize township officials to enter into discussions with all the parties affected, the BOS has allowed the process to get started. Such details include answering questions about who should own the easement, maintain the trail, and oversee and review the proposal.
The trail will be 8 feet wide and 6 inches deep. And because it is considered a natural trail, it does not have to be ADA compliant. A motion to move ahead with discussions passed. Township Manager Lisa Moore said the easement needs to be completed by the end of November.
The BOS also heard from Phil DeBaum, executive director of Kendal-Crosslands, a continuing care retirement community between Rtes. 1 and 926 east of Kennett Square Borough.
DeBaum’s purpose in addressing the working meeting was to alert the BOS and township manager of various demolition and construction activity that would likely occur at Kendal-Crosslands over the next decade. He said, “We will probably upgrade and redo up to half of all the residences on the property within 10 years. The 600 square-foot units are not large enough for today’s market. We will strive to add units in the 2,000 square-foot range.”
Debaum alerted the BOS that the retirement community will be asking for building permits to upgrade and redevelop its units. He also projected that other more near-term infrastructure construction projects, such as upgrading their auditorium and health center within the next 5 years, are on the drawing board. He said, “Affordable housing might be on our horizon, as well, as we seek to develop other properties we own in the township.”
Debaum also noted the need to remodel his facility’s front entrance gate and the stop light on Rt. 1. He said this was a near-term project that he believed would require discussions with township officials. Moore agreed; she suggested that when DeBaum is ready she can arrange meetings with the township engineer, police chief, building inspector, and others as needed.
In response to Supervisor Stevens’ request for general comments from the floor, township Police Chief McCarthy raised the issue of a body camera for him and Officer Nolt, given some of the recent incidents in the national news. Although the chief said he believes he can buy and use a camera without explicit authority from the BOS, he would like the BOS to formally authorize the use of such a device. He said downloading of data from the camera would need to be specified as to how the information would be stored and used.
Stevens agreed with Chief McCarthy’s concern and asked the Chief to keep the BOS apprised of other new technology that could benefit the enforcement of township laws and regulations.
