By Richard L. Gaw

Staff Writer

For those residents of New Garden Township and nearby municipalities who have expressed concern that the recent activity at the Philadelphia Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) property on Route 41 is the re-invigoration of the company's long-planned White Clay Point mall complex, you can relax.

For the next six months to a year, the Dover, Delaware-based Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company will be occupying the site as a staging area for pipeline projects it currently has in Chester County and Lancaster County.

The company, which has served the natural gas transportation needs of the Delmarva Peninsula since 1959, is developing 33 miles of pipeline looping in Maryland and Delaware, and in Honey Brook, Parkesburg, Jennersville, and installing an additional 3,550 horsepower compressor unit at its Daleville Compressor Station, north of West Grove. The company is also providing upgrades to existing facilities in Lancaster County

None of the pipeline improvements will take place in New Garden Township.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].