{"id":26514,"date":"2017-11-07T10:24:47","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T15:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=26514"},"modified":"2017-11-07T10:24:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T15:24:49","slug":"study-barnard-house-unsuitable-for-pocopsons-township-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=26514","title":{"rendered":"Study: Barnard House unsuitable for Pocopson’s township building"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Karen Cresta<\/strong>, Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Barnard House. Times file photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

POCOPSON \u2013 The Township Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, Oct. 30, had the Barnard House and the \u201cfeasibility study\u201d as a regular agenda item as it has for a long time but it will now be listed as \u201cfacilities update.\u201d\u00a0 The change in title reflects the change to rule out the historical Barnard House as a possible home for the township office and to explore other options.<\/p>\n

The feasibility study completed by GKO (Godshall, Kane & O\u2019Rourke) architects suggested that the Barnard House was not feasible for the township office and uses.\u00a0 The supervisors urged the Chester County Commissioners to collaborate with them to move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supervisor Elaine DiMonte said, \u201cWe are looking at all facilities now\u2026We have asked the commissioners several times to come meet with us about the restrictions on the covenant at the Barnard House. \u00a0Until we understand from them what they might or may not allow us to do, our hands are still tied.\u00a0 So we have options.\u00a0 We have ideas around renovating this building or the building on the back of this lot here… There\u2019s other things that can be done with the [Barnard House] property to bring more activities to the location along with the KURC.\u00a0 Our hands are tied right now with the commissioners. We\u2019ve been trying to get communication with them and trying to get a meeting with them.\u00a0 They were here last October [2016] and we explained to them what was going on but the covenant, as you know, is very restrictive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The supervisors are looking to present the options to the commissioners and to get help from them on GKO\u2019s ideas on possibilities and price points.<\/p>\n

The supervisors announced that one of the things they need to talk about is having a public meeting in the future to get input from residents on all options and cost but first a meeting with the Chester County Commissioners is essential to ease up on the covenant restrictions.\u00a0 The supervisors are waiting to hear back from commissioners to attend a meeting with them to review ideas.<\/p>\n

In 2008, the township took possession of the 68 acres and the 1800\u2019s Eusebius Barnard House from Chester County for $1 with the hopes to house the township\u2019s administrative offices and public meeting space and as the home for the Kennett Underground Railroad Committee (KURC).\u00a0 After spending over $900,000 thus far in renovations, the house is still unoccupied and a certificate of occupancy is still needed before a lease can be signed and KURC can get in the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would sign it tonight if we can get in it,\u201d said KURC President John O\u2019Neal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put that to the side when we decided we really need to have a feasibility study by a professional to say yay or nay to the use of the Barnard House as opposed to the casual conversations that we had when we had other vendors in and were going through the Barnard House a year ago\u2026We have a modified lease but we have not all looked at it and approved it,\u201d said Supervisor Alice Balsama.<\/p>\n

The supervisors informed O\u2019Neal that until the building is safe, there is a certificate of occupancy, the feasibility study is completed, the matched grant money is received, then KURC cannot get in the Barnard House and the modified lease cannot be approved.<\/p>\n

Chairman Ricki Stumpo responded, \u201cGive us another couple of months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry to disappoint you.\u00a0 I think we are getting closer if we can get collaboration from the commissioners on this initiative,\u201d added DiMonte.<\/p>\n

Stumpo announced that the 2018 township budget was finalized and will be made available to the public on Nov. 6 and will be adopted on Nov. 27.\u00a0 The earned income tax and property tax rates are unchanged from 2017.<\/p>\n

Kevin Gosselin, Pocopson\u2019s Emergency Management Coordinator, provided an update on the emergency plan.\u00a0 He is in the process of surveying the township\u2019s fuel storage and usage statistics for the Chester County Department of Emergency Services and is completing a comprehensive audit of the emergency operations plan for full compliance with local and federal (FEMA and PEMA) agencies.<\/p>\n

Director of Public Works Mark Knightly provided an update that all curbside chipping was completed and collection of leaves (in paper bags only) starts on Nov. 6 and continues every Monday in November.\u00a0 Knightly also announced that the road crew is getting ready for snow and received approval to buy bulk rock salt at $53.80 a ton in collaboration with the co-op of Southern Chester County.\u00a0 Approval to purchase a generator for the municipal building in the amount of $19,570 was also approved.<\/p>\n

Also approved was the original trail easement for Overlook Circle.\u00a0 It was agreed that the original trail easement to link Pocopson Elementary with the current trail system that requires a future bridge to cross Pocopson Creek would be more practical.\u00a0 The supervisors were all in favor to move forward with the additional legal work needed from the township solicitor.<\/p>\n

The supervisors approved the emergency services resolution confirming Longwood Ambulatory Services as the primary provider and Good Fellowship as back-up for the township.<\/p>\n

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The Kennett Township Police Department and Longwood Fire Company are sponsoring a coat drive from now until Nov. 12. A drop off box can be found at the Pocopson Township building.<\/p><\/div>\n

In other announcements, the Kennett Township Police Department and Longwood Fire Company are sponsoring a coat drive from now until Nov. 12.\u00a0 They are collecting new and gently used coats, sweater, mittens gloves, scarves and hats in all sizes for local charities and families in need.\u00a0 The township building is a drop off location and a designated box is labeled for donations.<\/p>\n

Stumpo reminded the township that they can vote on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at the Pocopson Home from 7a.m \u2013 8p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease come out and vote.\u00a0 If not, you can\u2019t complain about anything,\u201d added Stumpo.<\/p>\n

For more township information, please visit the website at www.pocopson.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Karen Cresta, Staff Writer, The Times POCOPSON \u2013 The Township Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, Oct. 30, had the Barnard House and the \u201cfeasibility study\u201d as a regular agenda item as it has for a long time but it will now be listed as \u201cfacilities update.\u201d\u00a0 The change in title reflects the change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7269,6518,9670,149,9669],"class_list":["post-26514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-barnard-house","tag-featured","tag-municipal-offices","tag-pocopson","tag-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26515,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26514\/revisions\/26515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}