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Chester County Press

New Garden to join watershed program

10/18/2016 12:24PM ● By Richard Gaw
By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

The New Garden Township Board of Supervisors agreed at their Oct. 17 meeting to link the township in the Christina Watershed Partnership Pilot Collaboration Project, a unified effort to make the stream compliant with environmental standards, for future generations. The cost to the township will be $1,000 a year for the next two years.
Encompassing 78 square miles, the Christina River watershed borders Maryland and Delaware. It is part of the larger Christina River Basin, a watershed made up of the Brandywine, Red Clay, White Clay Creek, and the Christina River watersheds.
On Sept. 19, Robert Struble of the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance joined with Shane Morgan of the White Clay Wild & Scenic River Program in inviting the township to become a part of the partnership. By coming on board, New Garden will partner with Avondale, West Grove Borough, London Grove Township and Franklin Township.
In other township business, the board approved the recommendation by the township's Comprehensive Plan Review Committee to use the services of West Chester-based architect and planner Thomas Comitta & Associates to work with the Brandywine Conservancy to update the township's ten-year comprehensive plan. The supervisors stipulated in their approval that the cost of these services will not exceed $50,000. A portion of the program will be paid for through grants from the county. There will be public meetings and workshops associated with the plan's progress.
The board also approved amendments in the sale of the township's sewer system to Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater, Inc., calling for two date extensions, at the request of Aqua.
Township solicitor Vince Pompo said that there has been little progress made in the negotiations between the township and those parties associated with the Green Valley Farm, related to a planned easement for the 178-plus-acre farm in the township. It is the latest delay in an agreement that was first reached by the board on Feb, 23, 2015 – 21 months ago – when it voted 3-2 to enter the township into negotiations to purchase the acreage for $2.3 million, for the purpose of placing a conservation easement on the farm. 
Pompo said that the agreement is still being ironed out in the Orphan's Court in the City of Philadelphia, a division of the Philadelphia Judicial System which serves to protect the personal and property rights of all persons and entities who are otherwise incapable of managing their own affairs. John Reynolds is incapacitated and therefore incapable of managing his own affairs. His brother Warren, a former township supervisor whose family has owned and managed this property since 1904, is currently serving a prison sentence for the possession of more than 500 images of child pornography.
The public is invited to attend the board's second 2017 budget meeting on Oct. 24, beginning at 7:30 p.m., at the township building.
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail [email protected].