Ordinance #12 (a.k.a the "recreational fee-in-lieu" ordinance) revises the Borough's Subdivision & Land Development Code (Chapter 97 of the complete Borough Code) "to require new residential subdivisions or land developments to provide for recreational facilities or a fee in lieu of facilities." In other words, it enables the Borough to charge developers an additional fee and apply the resulting revenue to the Parks & Recreation budget. The ordinance creates a new source of revenue for the Borough: one that comes from people who will presumably make money from their work in the Borough, rather than from Borough taxpayers themselves.

If the land were available, it would cost about $18 million to purchase 84 acres of land in the Borough at current market prices. On the other hand, the 2002 Urban Center Revitalization Plan (UCRP) proposed about $8 million worth of park projects for the Borough. Rather than expose the Borough to the risk of a legal challenge to the validity of a fee based on the higher number, Comitta proposed dividing the lower number by 4,300 -- the number of residential units in the Borough -- to reach a figure of $1,250 for the "recreation facility deficit" per housing unit or per 2,000 square feet of residential space. That compares favorably with the fee in Concord Township ($2,300 per unit or 1,500 square feet of residential space) and Uwchlan Township ($2,000 per unit).

The rest of the story consists of volunteerism and timing. After discovering the loophole in the MPC, Comitta wrote a draft ordinance for Council to consider and assembled 21 pages of supporting documents from the UCRP, MPC and the 2000 Comprehensive Plan -- all without charge to the Borough. Upon hearing his presentation at the February PZBID committee meeting, the members recommended its adoption 3-0 to the full Council, and a week later they authorized the Borough solicitor to prepare an ordinance based on Comitta's draft.

For the next several months, the ordinance made its way through committee meetings and public hearings while everyone with an interest in Borough finances held their breath. That was because under state law, an ordinance cannot be made retroactive, so any developer who filed the papers to start the approval process prior to the passage of the ordinance would be exempt from its provisions. By state law, however, Borough Council must conduct all business (except that dealing with land acquisition, employees or legal action) in public meetings, so the "recreational fee-in-lieu" ordinance appeared on the May 16-17th Borough Council agenda (item #10) and again at last week's meeting (item #4), when it was approved by a 6-0 vote (Holly Brown, Dem, ward 1, was absent).

To summarize all this, and to explain why those of us who heard the original presentation back in February were so excited, a Borough resident donated his time and expertise to find a loophole in state law that allows the Borough to charge developers a fee that will help to offset the cost of the additional services that their projects will require from local government. Every dollar that comes from developers is one less dollar paid for by resident taxpayers. Although this ordinance won't eliminate the rather knotty budget problems faced by the Borough, it is a significant victory in the struggle by local governments to balance budgets within the legal constraints ordered by Harrisburg.

This month's meeting included Mayor Dick Yoder and councilwoman Carolyn Comitta, eight members of WCU student government including president Kyle Mullins, plus police representatives, WCJIM and one other resident from Sharpless Street. Highlights of the meeting included remarks from Mayor Yoder, a discussion of student concerns about the SIP (Source Invention Program), and a video showing how WCU students spent over 185,000 hours volunteering in the community (from West Chester to New Orleans) during the 2005-2006 school year.

There are always interesting facts presented at Town-Gown meetings. During the first four-and-a-half weeks of the current semester, West Chester police arrested 269 people aged 18-25. Half were from WCU and half were not, but "95% [of the arrests] are alcohol-related." That number is forty percent higher than during the same period in 2004-2005. The WCU police representative reported 106 citations since last July (and 208 during the spring semester), of which most involved alcohol.

Officials at the Town-Gown meeting (as well as the President's Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drugs, which met the next morning) agreed that there is a national epidemic of alcohol abuse, and to a lesser extent drug abuse, among young people. It seems unlikely that anyone is going to change that -- anymore than you could convince people aged 18-25 from giving up the use of automobiles -- so the answer has to involve responsible drinking. That begins with neighbors serving as good role models, adequate educational opportunities about how to drink, and sufficient enforcement to make sure that everyone adopts responsible drinking habits. (Note that some times "responsible drinking" means "no drinking," such as when operating a motor vehicle.)

Back to the Town-Gown meeting ... the University has a lot going on to help students live responsibly off-campus: last week's SIP presentation by police and district attorney repsresentatives last week, an on- campus safety forum by WCUPD and WCPD next week, and assorted efforts to keep this weekend's Homecoming Weekend (Sept. 29-Oct. 1) focused on campus.

WCU's student groups have their own initiatives. OCCA, a group that serves off-campus and commuter students, distributed free donuts and juice to residents and students in September in an effort to get them to mingle. The SGA leaders described several long-term plans to increase student involvment in the Borough, and promised to have rperesenatives attend Borough and West Goshen meetings regularly.

Town-Gown Council meets roughly once a month at 7pm in Sykes Student Union during the fall and spring semesters. The next meetings are scheduled for November 6 and December 4. They are open to the public and offer a good place to find out what the University and our town's two police departments are up to. They also offer an opportunity to make an impression on student leaders, and to sort out truth from rumor about student-resident relations.

SIP (Source Investigation Project), which started in State College and came to West Chester last spring, has been renewed this fall

WCU prepares for Homecoming Weekend, Sept. 29 to Oct. 1

Borough government was well represented by Mayor Dick Yoder, all seven members of Council, two former members of Council (Diane LeBold and Bill Scott), plus the Borough Manager, Ernie McNeely. About a dozen members of the Borough's voluntary boards and commissions -- Business Improvement District, Historic Architecture Review Board, Zoning Hearing Board and Planning Commission -- were there, including WCJIM (who serves on the Zoning Hearing board), and there were plenty of downtown business owners, neighborhood group representatives and individuals who came on their own. The "development community" were definitely in the majority by the end of the night, however, and several non-developers commented on that during the course of the event. As one observed, "the reason that so many developers and bankers are here is because they are working. They are trying to make a buck."

Although there was a potential for conflict, Comitta ran a tight meeting and in the process, may have educated a few people. Instead of holding a public hearing at which people gave speeches supporting their point of view, Comitta asked the participants to evaluate photos of architectural details, proposals for height limits, criterion for building approvals and options for new zoning laws. Then, after people had made their choices (on forms collected after the meeting for analysis), Comitta chose representative individuals to explain their thinking. As a result, the crowd got to hear Stan Zukin claim that "height is necessary to preserve history," his son Scott say "We have to be very careful not to make West Chester a dusty museum," developer Eli Kahn say "In order to create a balanced community, not just restaurants, ... we need to go vertical," and First National Bank president Kevin Quinn warn that if the height limit proves too constricting, his bank, which is in the process of expansion, may "have to look for growth somewhere else."

The crowd also heard former Council president Bill Scott say "We've received awards for years, not for what developers are proposing, but for what we've already got. We need smart growth." Planning Commission member Roy Smith stressed that "Historic preservation is economic development" and HARB member Bill McLaughlin warned against "any attempt to say economic development means we have to sacrifice historic preservation. ... [With the historic downtown] we have an attraction that will always bring economic development to our area."

It remains to be seen how Borough Council will use what they heard on Wednesday night, but there is no doubt that they were listening and even willing to offer their own views. The discussion will continue, most likely at next month's PZBID meeting, so keep an eye on WCJIM's local government page for agendas and the news page for updates.

He joins Jim Jones, a.k.a. WCJIM, the author of this web page, past and current member of various boards and commissions, and a well-known local historian. With Jones' knowledge of the Borough's past and Fitzpatrick's knowledge of the Borough's present, the two men offer a unique perspective on what's happening in our community.

The show, which airs from 8-10:00am on Thusday mornings, will also feature guests that include local business people, government officials, neighborhood activists and anyone with an interesting story to tell. Although the schedule is flexible, their goal is to spend an hour each week with the guest and the other hour talking about things that have been in the news or will soon be in the news.

According to Fitzpatrick, "I'm looking forward to working with Jim in an informative atmosphere like that on Talk About West Chester." Jones added "I'm thrilled to add Fitz's knowledge and sense of humor to the show.

Among the guests already confirmed for this fall are the director of the Borough's Parking Services, one of the founders of the Northwest Neighborhood Association, the chair of the West Goshen Planning Commission and a former political reporter for Town Talk. Recent guests included the Borough's "trash czar," representatives of both major parties' youth organizations, and a WCU professor who recently spoke to the government of the African country of Sudan (home of Darfur, the troubled region that appears regularly in the news).

Jim has more than thirty years of on-air radio experience including shows on two West Chester stations. "Fitz" has been a guest on the show before, as well as host of his own show on another station for much of the past four years. The two men are friends as well, and cohosting a radio show is just another way to extend that friendship, as well as to share their enthusiasm about the Borough of West Chester.

Following introductions, Dick Swain, the director of WCU's Library Services, spoke about a number of the rare volumes in the University's collection. The collection was donated by William Py;e Philips, son of by George M. Philips, the fourth and longest-serving president of WCU's predecessor, the State Normal School, from 1881 to 1920. Swain described how the elder Philips collected authors' signatures -- in person when he could, or by sending them a copy of their own book to sign plus the postage with which to return it. Often, that resulted in some remarkable acquisitions, such as a work by Robert Louis Stevenson after he had moved to a South Pacific Island. Swain provided a display of some of the most notable items -- works by Helen Keller, George Bernard Shaw and Frederick Douglas. He also described five other items donated by Philips -- copies of the first four Shakespeare folios from the 17th century -- and how WCU faculty use them to inspire their students' interest in Shakespeare.

Then Cresswell took over. He structured his presentation around the most frequently asked questions that he receives about the Antiques Roadshow. After explaining that the Roadshow came to Philadelphia last August to film shows that will begin airing on January 22, 2007, he described the lottery system used to trim the 28,000-plus applicants, and contrasted that to the first year when the show's organizers sat around hoping that someone would show up.

There are sixty to eighty appraisers at each show. Although most are from New York and Los Angeles, the show uses local appraisers too because many times they are most knowledgeable about locally-produced objects. For example, a show filmed in Phoenix, Arizona would be likely to attract examples of Native American crafts, and specialists in this crafts are most likely to reside in the Southwest. Cresswell's specialty is old prints and maps, which includes everything from Currier & Ives art prints to 16th century navigation maps.

Antiques Roadshow's
Don Cresswell (left)

Although Cresswell repeatedly mentioned the long days and fast pace, he also described how much fun he has on the show. "I love the people and the country," said Cresswell, as well as the opportunity to visit local museums and galleries with members of the cast. His best memory was of two shows in Portland and Los Angeles which he reached by train from Philadelphia. He added that none of the appraisers get paid, but instead view their time and expenses as part of promoting their regular business. Cresswell explained that there are strict rules, however, that prohibit the appraisers from using their position on the show to acquire business. The most they can do is leave their business brochures on a table near the exit and hope that people who need their services will contact them after the show.