All in Borough Council
The Swarthmore Planning Commission unanimously voted to disapprove the sale of the Delaware County Regional Water Authority (DELCORA) to Aqua Pennsylvania at their meeting on August 26. DELCORA, a public wastewater management utility, has proposed to sell its assets and responsibilities to the private, publicly traded corporation. Aqua PA has offered $276 million in a no-bid deal. Commission members voiced a range of concerns about the sale.
Swarthmore’s Planning Commission approved plans to subdivide the property at 686 N. Chester Road into two parcels at a nearly three-hour meeting on August 19. The vote was 10 to 1, with commissioner James Levine voting no.
Traffic on Fairview Road, Swarthmore’s response to the sale of the county regional wastewater management company, and accessibility were the main topics of the month’s sole Swarthmore Borough Council meeting on August 10. The meeting was (virtually) packed, with 26 people in attendance, including 16 residents of Swarthmore and Ridley.
Swarthmore architect Samina Iqbal attended the Swarthmore Human Relations Commission (HRC) meeting on August 6 to raise the commission’s awareness of accessibility issues in the borough. Iqbal described the slow history of increasing accessibility in the United States, and the disabled community’s frustrations with how little progress has been made in the 30 years since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. She described her family’s challenges navigating the public world with her husband, Tony Denninger, in a wheelchair.
“I have an elderly mother and a teenaged driver.” “School buses come down our street, which is very tight as it is.” “It’s very difficult when I get home after work and I can’t park my car.” These were some of the frustrations residents of School Lane in Swarthmore expressed at the July 27 meeting of the borough council’s Public Safety Committee. New construction of five homes on Michigan Avenue in Ridley, just across the street, has brought a glut of construction vehicles to their narrow, one-block road. These often park illegally, blocking sight lines and even driveways.
As the country wrestles with racial justice in the wake of the May 25 killing of George Floyd, Swarthmore’s Human Relations Commission (HRC) is attempting to finalize a mission statement, draft a diversity and inclusion statement for the borough, and identify concrete steps to improve Swarthmore’s racial climate.
Swarthmore Borough Council debated the benefits of continuing work over Zoom versus returning to in-person meetings at its July 13 legislative session. Also, a settlement has been reached for 311 Cedar Lane / 409 College Ave., some discussion of an anti-racism resolution, and a police policy review.
Swarthmore Borough Council approved a plan on Monday to construct “parklets”: portions of roadway blocked off for outdoor restaurant seating. Swarthmore Town Center (STC) developed the proposal to help struggling restaurants in the borough. Parklets will increase the number of patrons restaurants can serve during the next phases of reopening.
At the Swarthmore Borough Council meeting on June 1, council member Sarah Graden read a special statement from the Swarthmore Human Relations Commission.
What will the Swarthmore business district look like this summer? That was the question local merchants discussed at a May 27 Zoom meeting with members of the non-profit organization Swarthmore Town Center (STC) and Mayor Marty Spiegel. With Delaware County slated to move from the red phase to the yellow phase of reopening on June 5, business owners are trying to figure out how to proceed.
At its May work session on Zoom on Monday night, Swarthmore Borough Council unanimously voted to award a contract to repair two sections of sewer line from the center of town along Lafayette Avenue. Also, revenues from parking and real estate transfer fees have been down because of the pandemic. Mayor Marty Spiegel reported that he recently conducted his first two weddings as mayor.
After several unsuccessful attempts at starting, including a delay caused by COVID-19-related restrictions, the Swarthmore Street Tree Survey is about to get under way. A small team of certified arborists will travel throughout town, pinpointing the exact location of each street tree, along with the species, size, and general condition of approximately 4,000 trees. The physical survey should take about two weeks.
Swarthmore Borough and the Children and Adult Disability and Educational Services (CADES) reached an agreement on Sunday allowing for the continued use of the Rutgers Avenue school as a quarantine location for CADES clients with COVID-19 who normally live in group homes in the community. Swarthmore Borough had filed an injunction in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on Tuesday, April 14, seeking to remove patients diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Swarthmore Borough Council held a Zoom legislative session on Monday. Approximately 14 people, including borough council members and staff, attended. Much of the evening’s business consisted of ratifying resolutions related to the pandemic. The council ratified Mayor Marty Spiegel’s March 12 declaration of a state of emergency in the borough, as well as the council’s decision to hold meetings virtually as long as the emergency declaration remains in place.
Swarthmore Borough filed an injunction in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on Tuesday, April 14, seeking to stop CADES (Children and Adult Education and Disability Services) from housing COVID-19-positive clients in the Rutgers Avenue school, according to a press release from the borough.
Approval of Swarthmore College’s land development plan for building a new dining hall and reconfiguring the existing Sharples Dining Hall as a student activity building passed unopposed at Monday evening’s Swarthmore Borough Council Meeting. The council also discussed preparedness for a local outbreak of COVID-19.
I walked home from the Swarthmore Borough Council work session this warm winter evening, wondering whether I should write up the meeting for the paper. There were some interesting tidbits and new conversations. New to me, anyway. And if this newspaper doesn’t write about them, how will anyone know? Editorial
Anticipating continued discussion of the intersection of Yale and Cornell avenues, approximately 15 people showed up at Monday night’s meeting of the Swarthmore Borough Council Public Safety Committee. Eric Johnson of Pennoni Associates, the borough engineer, presented a study he conducted over several days in February. He was trying to determine whether the intersection meets the formal warrant for a four-way stop. He concluded that it does not.
This week’s Swarthmore Borough Council meeting was all about trees: a new inventory of the borough’s street and park trees, issues with PECO’s tree trimming, and more. We also excerpt a letter from the Tree Committee about the many benefits of trees.
The intersection of Yale and Cornell avenues dominated the Swarthmore Borough Council meeting on Monday night. During the public comment section of the meeting, four residents relayed their concerns about safety at the intersection. Two of these had previously spoken at the Public Safety Committee meeting on January 27. The other two principal issues discussed at the meeting had to do with trees.
