An overflow audience of more than 500 area residents, elected officials and representatives from various area conservation groups filled the Avon Grove Charter School auditorium on Jan. 10 for a nearly three-hour meeting to voice their continuing opposition to a proposed plan by the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to develop significant infrastructure at Big Elk Creek State Park.

To varying degrees of satisfaction, those in attendance heard what they came to hear: DCNR announced mid-way through the meeting that it will not include its planned campground and RV park on the blueprint of its plan moving forward for the park until additional research and study is completed.

The town hall event served as a follow-up to DCNR’s Nov. 6, 2023 presentation at Lincoln University, when agency officials unveiled a concept for the park that would include the construction of camping facilities, an RV park, a visitors’ center and parking lots in the 1,700-acre park as an incentive to develop the park as a tourist attraction.

The meeting, co-sponsored by Frankling and Elk townships and moderated by Franklin Township Board Chairman David Gerstenhaber, echoed the content and tenor of the public’s vehement disapproval of DCNR’s plan, which has been expressed in correspondence with local officials and seen in the formation of grass roots organizations and on petitions over the last two months. As expressed during a more than one hour comment session, they believe that development in the park would have a debilitating effect on the park and its wildlife, lead to extensive out-of-town traffic and ruin what many at the meeting called “a good place to get lost in.”

The town hall also saw several of southern Chester County’s top officials in attendance, including State Rep. John Lawrence, Sens. Carolyn Comitta and John Kane, and all three Chester County Commissioners, as well as DCNR Secretary Cindy Dunn and John Hallas, DCNR’s Director of the Bureau of State Parks.

‘Read my lips. No new campgrounds in Big Elk Creek State Park’

“I was elected to preserve the best characteristics of Chester County so that they will be enjoyed by future generations but also those living here right here and right now,” said newly elected County Commissioner Eric Roe. “My job is to maximize the benefits of our natural resources for county residents but also to minimize any drawbacks that they may have. I ran for this office to defend the good things we’ve got going for us, because they are worth defending. That is the reason why I cannot in good conscience support the construction of new campgrounds at Big Elk Creek State Park.

“By adding this campground complex, we’re not just inviting Chester County residents to come to it. We’re not just inviting Pennsylvania residents to come to it. We’re not just inviting people from neighboring states to come to it. There will be people from all over the country and the world right here in our backyard. That is what threatens the peaceful nature of this preserve.”

Roe said that DCNR has more than $1.4 billion in backlog from projects they have not completed at other state parks. He said that state “bureaucrats” like those from DCNR will fundamentally change the park and the county, “and leave you and I holding the bag.”

“I may be just one voice in county government,” Roe said, “but let me use that voice to say this: Read my lips. No campgrounds in Big Elk Creek State Park.”

‘A kick in the gut’

In the weeks that have followed DCNR’s November presentation, State Rep. John Lawrence has been a fierce opponent to the agency’s plans for Big Elk Creek State Park and has informed – and perhaps galvanized -- his constituents in the 13th District and throughout southern Chester County with facts and details surrounding the history of the former preserve, which DCNR purchased in 2020. He said that he is opposed to DCNR’s proposal “in its entirety.”

“When I heard this proposal to turn part of the preserve into a state park and then to turn into an overnight attraction was a kick in the gut,” Lawrence told the audience. “To me, it’s a violation of public trust. It is a betrayal of decades of efforts by many people and the efforts they put forward.

“The Big Elk Creek State Park should be managed as part of the White Clay Creek Preserve, which is what DCNR promised when the property was acquired. That is my position, and it will be worth fighting for, for as long as it takes.”

Additional comments were made by County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz and Josh Maxwell; Franklin Township Supervisor Donna Dea; Elk Township Supervisor Estace Walters and Elk Township Supervisor Melanie Ryan.

‘We aim to be the best land stewards’

Declaring that the campground-RV park concept was not going to be included on DCNR’s next blueprint of its master plan, Dunn told the audience that over the past several weeks, the agency has received a large volume of public input through emails, letters and other forms of correspondence in opposition to the agency’s plans for the park. Calling the meeting “democracy in action,” she referred to DCNR as being “in the planning phase” of the park’s development.

“Our mission is to serve all 13 million Pennsylvanians,” she said. “We aim to be a good neighbor. We aim to be the best manager of our state parks. We aim to be the best land stewards, and we do that through the citizens of the Commonwealth who we report to. We serve you.”

“We are in an initial master plan for Big Elk Creek State Park, and all of your voices are significant in contributing to what the park ultimately becomes in the end,” said Hallas, who told the audience that DCNR’s initial meeting last November served as “the initial, high-level concepts for a master plan that is still a work on progress.” 

During a brief presentation, Hallas spelled out the next stages of DCNR’s work on Big Elk Creek State Park, which will include prioritization of initial improvements and enhancements in 2024; developing designs for initial improvements in 2024 and 2025; the construction and prioritization of initial improvements in 2026 and 2027; and making additional resource improvements and park enhancements in 2028.

Hallas listed several of DCNR’s other planned initiatives for the park, which include improving meadow habitat; developing riparian buffer planting to protect streams and waterways; and reforestation. He said that the public input from the meeting will be “flown into the final product” for the blueprint for the master plan.

“We are not advancing our campground because of the input we have received since November, but what we’re calling out in the master plan is that we will assess needs and feasibility for overnight accommodations,” Hallas said to the audience. “When we assess those future needs and feasibility, you will be engaged and we will gather your input.”

2,650 signatures of opposition

For more than one hour, more than two dozen residents and environmental experts delivered comments related to DCNR’s plans to develop Big Elk Creek State Park, many of whom shared a common belief that the park should be left alone and serve in the capacity of a preserve. Franklin Township resident Anteia Consorto, who has spearheaded public opposition to DCNR’s plans for infrastructure development in the park through a website (www.savebigelkcreek.org.), excoriated the agency for its “abhorrent” idea to take historic property and develop it for high-impact recreation. 

Consorto presented two petitions against DCNR to Dunn – one that had accumulated 2,650 signatures and one generated from Lawrence’s office that had gathered 844 signatures. She said that combined, the petitions have received signatures from 43 of the 50 states in the U.S.

“The statement that the proposed development was only five percent of the total park was very misleading,” Consorto said. “The development at five percent would be the equivalent of three Christiana Malls, or for baseball fans, four Citizens Bank Parks.”

She called surveys sent by DCNR “flawed,” and said that the agency’s actions “have caused a lot of mistrust and deep concern for this beautiful land we share with a wide variety of flora and fauna.”

“The government is supposed to be of and for the people,” she continued. “Big Elk Creek is a unique gem that needs to be managed by both the state and the community. Allow us to be part of the solution in helping you get this right.”

Franklin Township resident Cecelia Tanzer encouraged DCNR to honor its obligations for other state parks and use the budget targeted for the development of Big Elk Street Park to complete projects at other state parks in its jurisdiction.

“Please do not make Big Elk Creek the campground for Fair Hill and White Clay Creek State Park,” she said. “Please follow Maryland and Delaware, who have protected their vastly larger preserves from campground development.”

Carmela Ciliberti, a New London Township resident, said that the plans for Big Elk Creek State Park are a violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution, Article I, Section 27, which states that people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment, that “the Commonwealth owes a fiduciary duty to we the trust beneficiaries,” and that proceeding with the development of Big Elk Creek against the advice of disinterested experts would be a breach of their fiduciary duty to residents.

Quoting case law, Ciliberti said “The Commonwealth cannot treat trust assets as if they were their own, dealing at arms’ length with its citizens, measuring its gains by the balance sheet profits and appreciation it realizes from its operations. In her capacity as an attorney, Ciliberti sent a Preservation of Evidence letter via certified mail to DCNR’s chief counsel, in order to support potential legal action against the agency.

Advisory Committee

Recalling the group of conservationists who helped preserve hundreds of acres in southern Chester County four decades ago, Gary Schroeder, the founder, past president and current member of Friends of the White Clay Creek Preserve, directed his comments to Dunn and Hallas.

“I have come to know that you guys are smart, dedicated, professional and caring partners, [but] some in this community have felt, frankly, bullied by you [related] to the process that has occurred to now,” he said. “That pains me personally, because I know that is not who you are.”

Schroeder recommended the formation of a resident advisory committee to work with DCNR on the development of the park, ‘who will work with you in the planning process,” he said, a suggestion that was positively received by Dunn and Hallas.

“We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a park that embraces the unique open space available on the Strawbridge property,” he said, “a park that maintains open space, nurtures land species, creates meadows and forests, embraces the quiet creek, marvels at the mist on the creek at sunrise, sees the Bald Eagles in fight, and celebrates the wonder of a child experiencing nature, and yes, maintains the soul of this land and the soul of this community.” 

The immediate timeline for DCNR’s plans for Big Elk Creek State Park will include rolling out its final development plan by March 2024; hosting a follow-up public meeting this spring; and submitting its final master plan this summer.

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