Railroad tracks creating problems for proposed 12-mile trail

KENNETT >> Two ankle-high strips of steel represent a stumbling block for Kennett Township’s ambitious trail system plans.

At the monthly meeting of the board of supervisors, Township Manager Lisa Moore said the plans to create a trail linking the Victory Brewing Company and Pennock Park as part of a planned 12-mile township-wide loop system were stalled because of the need to cross the railroad tracks between the two sites.

Moore said the township had its engineer design a crossing to show the East Penn Railroad exactly what it proposed. But the railroad officials turned the township down because they felt there were already too many pedestrians in the area, she said.

“They’re adamant that they don’t want anyone to cross,” Moore said.

The railroad had also turned down a request from the borough to create a pedestrian crossing to make it easier for people to walk to The Creamery on Birch Street.

Township officials met with a member of the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) about the problem, and showed the member the crossings in question, Moore said. The PUC member felt the railroad should cooperate with the township and borough, but the only way to move the situation forward was for the PUC to hold a hearing on it, she said.

The borough has already agreed to take part, Moore said, and she asked the supervisors to authorize the township to be involved also. The supervisors approved the request unanimously.

The PUC might take up to six months to get the hearing scheduled, Moore said.

In other business, the supervisors heard a request to help support the Kennett school district’s robotics team. Molly Hohner, a sophomore who is team secretary, and Christina Sinton Gorman, a mentor for the team, said they were seeking financial assistance from the community to help defray the expenses of regional and national competitions.

Hohner and Gorman said the team designs and builds robots and then competes and promotes its activities by using engineering and a variety of other skills in a multidisciplinary educational program. Currently the team is ranked fourth out of 120 teams in the mid-Atlantic region, they said.

The team was hoping to get $4,000 from the township to help pay for the costs of competition registration and travel, Hohner and Gorman said. The supervisors unanimously approved the request, saying the students reflected well on the community. Local developer John Lynch spoke up from the back of the room to say he would contribute another $1,000 to help fund the team.

The supervisors gave final plan approval to the Sweetbriar development, where 38 units are

proposed to be built on a 9.97-acre plot on the west side of Union Street south of the borough. The development had been the subject of much discussion because of soil contaminated with arsenic.

The original plan had been to contain the contaminated soil at the site, but the developer, Scott Emerson, says the plan now is to remove it.

The Sinclair Springs development, where 78 townhouses are proposed for a 26.125-acre site on West Hillendale Road, got preliminary approval from the supervisors.

Township Police Chief Lydell Nolt’s recommendation to take Sgt. Matthew Gordon off his initial probationary status and make him a full-fledged member of the force was approved, as was Moore’s recommendation to approve a mission statement for a joint economic development force for Kennett Square and Kennett Township.