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A group of volunteers helps build phase I of a new skate park at the Brandywine YMCA in West Brandywine Township, which is planned to built in three phases.
Phase I of the park, which will be open to the public for a small fee (less for YMCA members), includes quarter pipes, banks, stairs, rails and grind boxes.
In other Y news, Jon Sovocool, health and wellness director at the Y, begins a no excuses walking/joggging/running program called Y Striders.
The program is a members program, but is open to members of the community also. "The purpose of the program is for participants to improve their cardiovascular fitness one step at a time," he says
The group has a goal to burn a million calories by the end of year. Through Sept. 23, the group already had logged 2,765 miles or 276,500 calories. Sovocool also has said if that goal is reached, he will get his haircut in a mullet.
Over 150 alumni come out for the annual James Adams School Alumni Picnic at the Robert L. Davis Fellowship Hall of the Hutchinson United African Methodist Episcopal Church in Coatesville.
Alumni came from the following areas: California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Georgia and Louisiana, as well as locally, Washington, D.C., York, Harrisburg, Reading, Philadelphia, West Chester, Norristown, Lancaster, Plymouth Meeting and, of course, Coatesville.
West Brandywine Township give six recommendations to the Coatesville Area School Board after having a second town meeting between about 350 township residents and elected school board officials.
Residents were asked to vote on the issues and the crowd unanimously endorsed each of the six recommendations, which include having the line item budget released to the public and supporting cutting teacher benefits even if it means creating a teacher's strike in the upcoming school year.
The City of Coatesville a special tribute to Richard "Rip" Hamilton, a graduate of Coatesville Area Senior High School and a member of the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons, with a parade through the city and a ceremony at Scott Middle School.
City council president David Griffith gives Hamilton the key to the city and proclaimed July 21, 2004 Richard "Rip" Hamilton Day.
"Every time I meet somebody special, I'm going to let them know where I'm from."
At two Coatesville Area School Board meetings, members pass a budget with a 9.82 percent or 2.5 mill real estate tax increase and vote to release the line item budget to the public. The board also puts a request to obtain a RFP (request for proposal) for a new solicitor into the finance committee.
The $105 million budget passes 5-4 with Bill Lowe, Diane Brownfield, Paul Johnson, and Al Andres opposing the motion.
State Rep. Chris Ross, R-158th of East Marlborough, hosts a breakfast meeting where he discussed slot machines, medical malpractice and storm water management.
Invitees are chosen at random from the voting lists and represented a non-partisan cross section of area resident voters, according to Ross.
August
Coatesville Area School District taxpayers finally got to see exactly what the district's 9.8 percent property tax increase will pay for.
The long-awaited line-item accounting of the 2004-05 general operating budget of the Coatesville Area School is released to the public. "It's after the fact," Pat Sellers, of Coatesville, says. "The whole purpose of having a line-item budget is allowing people to comment on it, and change it. That's not going to happen now."
"The best we can do is help them (board members) stick to it," he says.
The Chester County 4-H Fair is held at the Romano 4-H Center in West Brandywine, with about a hundred youth and their horses participating in about 50 classes.
Among the area youth participating with his horse, My Duty To Impress, is 15-year-old Carter Lindborg of West Brandywine, who place first in three different categories and also won the total champion ribbon in the gaming class.
City council votes to rescind its decision to place a referendum on the November ballot seeking voter approval for its revitalization plan.
Rip City wins a 56-54 victory over the Lench Mob in the deciding Game 3 of the Coatesville men's summer basketball league finals.
With 10 seconds remaining and the score knotted at 54, series MVP Leon Hunt took the inbounds pass, dribbled right, spun back into the lane and released an acrobatic shot that initially looked like it had no chance of dropping...but then richocheted gently off the backboard and through the net with just one second left in the game.
The first-ever corn maze at Hurricane Hill Farm opens at the farm at 704 East Reeceville Road in West Brandywine Township, Coatesville.
Ed Baldwin, owner of the farm, says the maze, which is designed by Don Watts of Newtown Graphics in Warrington, covers about four acres, and contains about 2.5 miles of trails. It takes the theme of a baseball diamond with the name of the farm carved out at the south end of the field.
Visitors to the Chester County - G.O. Carlson Airport in Valley Township are afforded a rare treat as a B-17 and a B-24 land at the airport as part of a nationwide tour.
The Collings Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation, established the tour as a living history exhibit to promote awareness of World War II history and to honor the veterans that fought for freedom during the war.
September
West Brandywine Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approve changes to the zoning ordinance that relaxes some of the residential requirements for at-home businesses.
The home occupation definition is changed to "an accessory use, which is customarily carried on within a dwelling unit." Additional changes limit what can be done to the home's exterior by keeping looking residential and it also limits the number of employees to 4 within that home occupation. It also requires the homeowner, spouse or children to be employed on the premise. This stipulation will restrict a homeowner from just renting his home out for a commercial use.
The West Brandywine Township holds its second Community Day to be held on at the township municipal complex located on Hibernia and Lafayette Roads.
Last year, Community Day also kicked off the grand opening of the township's municipal complex. It was then decided Community Day would now be an annual event. This special day combines the township's traditional Bike Derby and Safety Fair that was annually held in the spring.
Developers came before the West Brandywine Township Board of Supervisors to discuss their concept plans for two new developments during a conditional use hearing.
Developers Jack and Joanne Conti discuss building a 20,900-square feet commercial space development on Pratts Dam Road near Routes 340 and 82.
The second proposal before the board of supervisors is Brandywine Meadows, a 75-unit townhouse development in a 15-acre parcel of a 178-acre site that straddles both West Brandywine and Wallace townsnhips.
Coatesville Area Catholic Elementary School receives preliminary plan approval for its Kindergarten through eighth grade school to be located near Beaver Creek Road and Route 82 near Ford's Nursery from West Brandywine Township.
Preliminary plan approval means the school has met most of the major obstacles in the engineering review process. Those reviews included storm water management, sewer, water, lighting, landscaping and buffering neighboring properties.
In addition to the Coatesville Area Catholic Elementary School project, a second project called the Riding at Hibernia comes before the West Brandywine Township Board of Supervisors in conditional use hearing.
The proposed development by the Elliot Building Group will consist of 91 new single-family homes with 18,000 square foot lots and one existing home on the property between Hibernia Road and Routes 322 and 82.
October
The City of Coatesville Bureau of Fire holds an awards dinner and ceremony at the LGM Lodge in Coatesville. Among awards given out are Firefighter of the Year, Officer of the year, EMT of the Year, as well as two lifetime achievement awards and citations and certification level bars.
Receiving awards are Michael Pawlowski, career firefighter; EMS Chief Dave Varner from Washington Hose Co. and Robert Tracey Jr., captain at West End Fire Co.
Also receiving awards the late fire chief Francis B. Pilotti, with his mother, Elsie Pilotti, accepting on his behalf; and Edward J. Tracey, captain of the fire police and member of the West End Fire Co. for his 67 active years of service.
And receiving another special award, the John W. Smoker Award, is the John W. Smoker family for the years that the late Mr. Smoker gave to the fire department.
Charlotte Asherman of Coatesville receives a Pink Ribbon Award from the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition at its annual Keystone Breast Cancer Conference at the Harrisburg Hilton and Towers for her work in helping start the Mother Day's Mammograms program in the state and around the country.
Over 25,000 women have received mam mograms through the program that at its largest extended to 26 states and the District of Columbia.
The conference is held in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) every year and is designed for breast cancer survivors, medical professionals, community and corporate leaders, legislators and advocates.
Volunteers from more than 60 area businesses and members of the Home Builders Association of Chester & Delaware Counties (HBA) help in the construction of two homes on Baxter Street in South Coatesville for Habitat for Humanity of Chester County over three days.
According to Jeff Vermeulen, executive vice president of the local HBA, which is headquartered in West Chester, this is the third Chester County Habitat project the HBA has supported since 2000. The first one, he said, was in Coatesville in 2000 and the second in South Coatesville, in 2002.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awards a $1 million grant and a $4 million loan to the City of Coatesville and developer Don Pulver for their plans to build a hotel, restaurant and office building at the intersection of the Route 30 Bypass and Route 8.
HUD awards the $1 million through its Brownfields Economic Development Initiative, a funding program designed to help communities revitalize abandoned locations, where redevelopment is complicated by environmental contamination.
The Western Chester County Chamber of Commerce holds its 74th Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony at the Coatesville Country Club.
Among those receiving awards is Greg DePedro, owner of the Coatesville Flower Shop, who received the 24th Annual Joseph G. Filoromo Jr. Community Service Award, named for Filoromo Jr., a past president of the chamber, who passed away in 1978. The award is given to an area resident, business or organization that exemplifies the dedication to community service.
A historic marker for Ida Ella Ruth Jones, who was known as the "Grandma Moses of Chester County", is dedicated in East Fallowfield Township with family of the late primitive folk artist in attendance, including two surviving daughters.
"It's inspirational and a great honor for us," says Ida Williams, 92, of Eastville, Va., one of the daughters. Also in attendance is daughter, Lucy N. Searles, 89, of East Fallowfield, as well as several generations of Jones' family.
The ceremony takes place at the corner of Route 82 South and Rockeby Road, not even a quarter mile from where Jones lived, with grandson Milton Searles unveiling the marker. The ceremony is followed by a reception at People's Hall in Ercildoun, that is hosted by the Chester County Women's Commission, which sponsored the marker.
Signs to honor two All-Americans from Coatesville Area Senior High School are dedicated at half-time of a football game between Coatesville and West Chester Henderson.
One sign is for Marc Primanti, who graduated from Coatesville in 1992, and was an All-American in football in 1996 at North Carolina State University; the other and Dave Lapp, who graduated from CASH in 1974, and was All-American at the University of Tennessee in 1978 in track.
The West Brandywine Township Board of Supervisors reviews a potential shooting ordinance that could restrict individuals discharging firearms within 150 yards of an occupied dwelling or building structure.
The proposed ordinance clearly states the law does not apply to hunters, any target shooting organization, law enforcement, and farmers that might need to get rid of pests in the agriculture security district.
The new ordinance, if passed, would also require anyone wanting to fire a gun within the restricted area of 150 yards of an occupied building or structure to get his neighbors' permission before doing so.
Patrick Sellers seeks compensation for the costs, and attorney's fees incurred in filing a challenge to the city's defunct, proposed ballot question on revitalization.
Sellers' attorney, Andrew Lehr, estimates the legal fees totaled between $3,500 and $4,000, excluding the costs of filing. Sellers serves subpoenas on all seven council members and City Manager Paul G. Janssen Jr. at a council meeting.
November
Members of the West Brandywine Township Taxpayers Secession Alliance ask voters outside the polls during the presidential election on November 2 to sign a petition asking the state to allow the township to secede from the Coatesville Area School District and receive 2,400 signatures. If approved by the state, it would allow the township to move to a neighboring school district. The township borders both Twin Valley and Downingtown Area school districts.
After a year's closure, Greenbelt Drive Bridge in Sadsbury Township
(Chester County) is officially reopened to the public, and the first vehicle to drive over the newly restored bridge was a new police vehicle that had been donated to the township.
Chester County Common Pleas Court President Judge Howard F. Riley Jr. denies Patrick Sellers' petition for relief for the legal fees he incurred in challenging the city's now-defunct ballot question on revitalization.
Sellers authored the three amendments to the city's Home Rule Charter that residents narrowly approved last November. The amendments were designed to protect the Saha farm by preventing the city from developing a golf course outside the city limits without voter approval via referendum.
Community Gardens of Chester County is featured in a television documentary that began airing on ABC-TV stations throughout the U.S. Oct. 24.
The 58-minute documentary called "Hunger No More: Faces Behind The Facts" aired on Oct. 31 on WPVI-TV Channel 6 and airs this month on WEVD-TV from Philadelphia. It is part of ABC-TV's "Vision and Values" series in partnership with the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission, and was produced by Mennonite Media Inc. of Harrisonburg, Va. at the request of the National Council of Churches.
The Coatesville Area School Board directs its solicitor to look into the accounting practices of a former financial adviser whose failed investments could cost Pennsylvania school districts millions.
Cynthia Quinn, chairwoman of the board's finance committee, wants district solicitor James Ellison to conduct a comprehensive review of the Philadelphia investment firm Dolphin & Bradbury to determine if any illegal activities occurred during its involvement with district business under the former Louis Laurento administration.
An investigation by the state auditor general's office determined that the Laurento administration hid years of deficit spending by using bond funds to finance daily operating expenses, which led to a $13 million negative fund balance. Robert Bradbury, of Dolphin & Bradbury, was the district's financial adviser and bond underwriter, under Laurento.
Thirty residents come before Caln Township Planning Commission with concerns as the Christian Fellowship Church began the land development and subdivision process for a 40,000 square footprint for a two-story building.
The building is to be located on Route 340 bordering the Route 30 Bypass east of Reeceville Road on a 22-acre site.
Residents have been vocal against the church's size stating it does not fit within the neighborhood. A 40,000 square footprint is estimated to be the size of Coatesville Area School District's football stadium. Residents had originally decided to appeal the zoning decision but reconsidered and withdrew the appeal later.
The West Brandywine Township Board of supervisors says it will allow time for negotiations between neighbors to work before enacting an ordinance that would restrict target shooting within 150 yards of an occupied building or structure.
If those fail, the ordinance has been advertised and could be adopted at some future date if no significant changes would be made. If significant changes were made to the ordinance, the new ordinance would legally need to be re-advertised.
Rainbow Elementary School presents more than 130 stuffed animals for the Westwood Fire Co. that it collected within the last two months.
After three members of the company held a fire safety assembly at Rainbow Elementary School in October, second grade teacher Sue Ann DeLorenzo challenged her class to do something in return for the fire company. DeLorenzo's class, along with the entire school, responded by collecting the animals.
December
After marching in the city's annual holiday parade Saturday, Gov. Ed Rendell presents the Coatesville Redevelopment Authority with $7 million in state funds for the construction of a new hotel, conference center and office building.
Rendell awards $5.75 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) funds to Coatesville for the construction project. In addition, the city's redevelopment authority received $1.25 million from the state Department of Community and Economic Development's Infrastructure Development Program (IDP) for infrastructure, site development, traffic signals and the extension of utilities and street lighting for both the offices and hotel.
Coatesville Area Tax Association Vice-President John Zaleski asks the West Brandywine Board of Supervisors to keep an eye on the City of Coatesville's Tax Incentive Financing or TIF proposal.
He says the program could significantly impact residents from the surrounding municipalities and that the association is keeping a close eye on the city's proposal to see how it will affect all of the taxpaying school district residents.
TIF or Tax Increment Financing is an effective financing and land development tool used for blighted or distressed areas to be redeveloped.
Christmas comes early once again for youth in the Coatesville area as 70 children and teen-agers are escorted by a group of more than 20 uniformed officers, civilian employees, dispatchers and police chaplains through the Parkesburg Wal-Mart to shop for Christmas.
Each child is given $100 to purchase gifts for themselves and their family, as the Coatesville City Police Department's Police Athletic League raised about $10,000 for the Shop with a Cop program.
The West Brandywine Township Board of supervisors approves two separate traffic impact fees for local land developers and which fee of either $2,611.13 or $959.55 per unit will be determined by the location of the future residential or commercial construction area.
The township had completed an Act 209 study, which included an analysis of anticipated future township growth and the current roads focusing on 22 intersections within the township road network. Act 209 is a tool for municipalities to use to pay for off-site improvements to roads that will be impacted by any development planned.
Jon Sovocool, health and wellness director at the Brandywine YMCA, has his hair cut in a mullet at the Y after members of one of his classes live up to a challenge he gave them earlier in the year.
In September, Sovocool told the members of his Y Striders class that if they walked, jogged and/or ran 12,000 miles, or the equivalent of burning 1.2 million calories, before the end of the year, he would get his hair cut in a mullet.
