To the Editor:

New Garden Township is updating the zoning maps and ordinances, and at the April 2025 Board of Supervisors monthly meeting, the township’s Board of Supervisors and the township Manager delivered Chester County Planning Commission approval to Amend Zoning Ordinance Chapter 200 that clears the way for the township to draft the amendment to include a stadium/arena as a legal use in the commercial/industrial district, of which White Clay Point is a part - this despite great opposition from the public at the February 2025 meeting (motion tabled) and at each subsequent monthly board meetings.

Although no formal plans have been submitted by any developer at this time, once the zoning amendment is adopted a developer, meeting those conditions, is allowed to build a stadium/arena and the municipality cannot deny a lawful use permitted by right in that district. The public would have to monitor all incoming applications and act quickly to attend and present opposition comments at Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors meetings when a developer presents their application.

What are the chances that our comments would have any influence at that time?

It is abundantly clear that the public opposes a stadium/arena as a legal land use in our township, so why override the right of the residents to determine the character of our community? A stadium would drastically change our semi-rural community. This Board of Supervisors and the township Manager should not just table the proposed amendment but render it nullified and withdrawn, not the “unfinished business” status it is in now, requiring public monitoring.

Gabriela Barbera
New Garden Township