By Richard L. Gaw

Staff Writer

Shane Morgan, management plan coordinator for the White Clay Creek Wild and Scenic Rivers Program, introduced Resolution 703 at the New Garden Township Board of Supervisors' meeting on Aug. 12, which calls for the restoration of stream banks throughout New Garden Park in Landenberg.    

Morgan said that the group was in the beginning stages of pursuing a two-phase project that calls for the construction of buffers and plantings along the park's streams, as a way of eliminating further erosion of stream banks. She said that the project would cost approximately $88,500, which will be used to pay for planning, engineering, site preparation and in-kind services. The committee is applying for environmental grants - a watershed restoration grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, and the Growing Greener Grant through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The first phase of the project will involve design, engineering and stream assessment, which will yield a master plan for the entire length of the 1,250 foot-long stream. The second phase of the project will involve the actual restoration, which will be divided into work on 750 feet of the stream, and then the remaining 500 feet.

If these grants are received, Morgan estimated that the first phase of restoration would begin in one year.  She said that she plans to recruit community volunteers to work on restoration, who will receive training related to the project.  New Garden Township would be obligated to contribute $5,700 to this restoration.

In other township business, the township's Open Space Committee received PECO's Green Region Grant Award in the amount of $10,000, which will be designated toward the Hendrickson property in Landenberg, which the township recently acquired to serve as a key part of the township's Greenways Trail. Gary Bell, chairman of the Open Space Review Board, said that the grant will go toward restoration of the property, which will include improving public access. 

"The grant will be used to establish a trail head at the historic Landenberg Bridge for trails following the rail bed of the Pomeroy and Newark-Landenberg Railroad," Bell said. "The trail head should provide limited parking for those who wish to use the trails. Access to the rail bed is now limited, and the trail head accessibility project should improve conditions for use of the trials as they are developed." 

Frank Manfredi, president of Manfredi Cold Storage on Chambers Road in Toughkenamon, informed the supervisors of the company's plans to develop additional parking at the site, the details of which will be formally presented before the township's zoning hearing board in September. In addition to increased parking for delivery vehicles, the plan also calls for the planting of screening trees and additional landscaping.

Manfredi said that the expansion of the physical plant could increase truck usage by as much as 30 percent, and potentially require the need to hire 30 additional employes to a staff that already employs 224 people. Manfredi Cold Storage distributes fruit, vegetables and foodstuffs from 22 countries

The Board gave authorization to pay off a loan in the amount of $1.65 million that had been used for open space acquisition in recent years. The remaining balance in the open space acquisition fund is $1.7 million.