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Chester County Press

Penn Township officials discuss the opening of new Avon Grove High School

09/13/2022 12:50PM ● By Steven Hoffman
The opening of the new Avon Grove High School was one of the discussion topics at the Penn Township Board of Supervisors meeting on Sept. 7.
The township has granted a temporary occupancy permit to the school even though there is still work in progress on the building. There are also a number of concerns about traffic and road access at the site.
PennDOT has granted a highway access permit for Waltman Way, but the road has not been completed. Without that additional access, traffic has been very congested now that the new school is open.
“Once Waltman Way is open, and that’s months away, that will alleviate a lot of it (congestion),” supervisor Victor Mantegna said. In the meantime, he encourages families to use the school buses rather than parents dropping off and picking up students or letting students drive to school. 
A sketch plan for an additional entrance to the campus at the Jenners Commons Shopping Center was presented to the township’s Planning Commission two months ago, but the Planning Commission considered it an incomplete plan. No revised plan has been submitted yet.
The Penn Township Historical Committee has organized a Red Rose Rent Day event for Sept. 17 at the Red Rose Inn. The event will be much smaller than the reinstitution of Red Rose Rent Day last year. The rose ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. followed by two hours of building tours. The Red Rose Inn will also be open for tours on Sun., Oct. 9 and Sun., Dec. 11. 
Last year, 571 visitors toured the Inn. So far this year, in just three open house days, there have been 278 visitors to the building. 
The board had planned to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Dockstader Environmental Education Center at the Penn Township Sports Park prior to the township meeting, but the event was postponed due to rain. The ribbon-cutting has been rescheduled to Sept. 13 at 4 p.m.
A new township storm water ordinance will be considered at the supervisors’ next meeting on Sept. 21. The Penn Township Comp Plan Task Force will meet at 4 p.m. on Sept. 28.  As explained on the township website, this update of the 2012 comprehensive plan will provide guidance and describe the township’s vision for the future.  All meetings are open to the public, plus there is a community values survey on the website and in the township’s fall news letter for public input.