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Chester County Press

Public invited to new police facility opening on Sept. 21

08/20/2019 03:00PM ● By Richard Gaw

By Richard L. Gaw

Staff Writer

The New Garden Township Board of Supervisors announced at their Aug. 19 meeting that the public will be invited to the official opening of the new home of the Southern Chester County Regional Police Department, scheduled for Sept. 21, beginning at 9 a.m.

The event will begin with remarks by officials, which will be followed tours of the building, “that will allow the community to see their new police facility,” said Police Chief Gerald Simpson.

The $4.3 million, 11,716-square-foot facility on Gap-Newport Pike, designed by Tevebaugh Associates, is currently in its final stages of construction. When completed, it will offer the Regional Police Department modernism, workability and better connection to the community it serves. 

Its “softened” or community area will include a 400-square-foot lobby and a 540-square-foot community multi-purpose room, which is equipped with a flat-panel TV, tables for up to 36 visitors and a seating capacity for up to 90. Just beyond the room is a galley kitchen, which will be used for special event dining preparation and refrigeration, and a public restroom.

Just off the lobby and community room, the facility's “hardened” or secure administration area will be accessible only to law enforcement officers and department staff. It will include offices and a conference room; a detective bureau area; interview, testing and IT rooms; and storage and locker rooms. At the rear of the building, the facility's “institutionalized” area will include three holding cells; arraignment and DUI processing rooms; and two sally ports for transportation of the incarcerated and storage of vehicles retained as evidence.

In other township business, the board approved the preliminary-final plan for a 116,000 square-foot self-storage facility that is planned to be constructed on 9021 Gap Newport Pike, located north of Crossfit Wheelhouse and south of the Brittany Hills development. The board's approval was recommended by the township's Planning Commission.

Representing Hector Road, LLC, Bill Romanelli said that the timeline for the project is to obtain final approvals over the next 12 months. He submitted an application to obtain a demolition permit from the township last week, in order to take down a barn, a garage, a shed and a house that are currently on the property, and said that the property is not included on the township's Historical Commission list of historic properties.

Romanelli said that a final plan for the project will be submitted to the township sometime in the next few weeks.

The board gave approval to Harvest Ridge Winery and Victory Brewing Company at their Aug. 19 meeting to co-host the Harvest Hopsgiving Festival on Nov. 2 at New Garden Township Park, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The approval included a waiver that permits alcohol to be served at the township park.

In addition to beer and wine, Harvest Ridge Winery General Manager Kristi May Wyatt said the festival will include food trucks, kid-friendly games, vendors and a food drive coordinated by the Chester County Food Bank. Wyatt said that between 10 and 15 percent of the proceeds from the festival will be given to the food bank.

The board continued to balk at what they perceived as roadblocks in the resubmitted design for a proposed 51-unit subdivision on Thompson Road. During a presentation by Alan Hill of Hillcrest Associates that asked the board for continued feedback, the board saw a potential density problem that would be exacerbated by building 51 homes on a 75-acre tract with one access point.

Board Chairman Steve Allaband said he would defer on making any final decision on the plan until he sees a traffic study done for the planned development. Board member Randy Geouque said that he anticipates that the development could see as many as 100 vehicles – two per household – which would likely lead to a high amount of traffic on a narrow road.

Jim DiLuzio, the New Garden Township representative to the Kennett Library Board of Directors, invited the township to purchase an advertisement in the library's publication that supports the library’s annual fall fundraiser, which raised $39,000 in 2018. Township Manager Tony Scheivert told DiLuzio that the township will again purchase an advertisement in the publication.

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