Dear West Goshen Residents & Businesses,
Summer is with us and I hope you are enjoying the warm weather and taking advantage of the long hours of daylight to participate in outdoor activities. I encourage you to check our calendar of West Goshen summer events and trips organized by the Parks and Recreation department. Perhaps I’ll see you on the West Goshen bus trip to NYC on June 25th, when I’ll be making a long-postponed visit to the National September 11 Memorial Museum. Recently we have been evaluating ideas to refurbish and enhance several of our parks, including a potential project at the Community Park to construct an additional restroom, repair the existing basketball and tennis courts and install a new children’s splash pad. Our intention is to seek state and county grants to help fund this project. This funding process will take more than a year to work through, but the Board is enthusiastic about continuing to make improvements to our park amenities.
The Board recently approved a proposal from the Township Consulting Engineer, Carroll Engineering, to perform a Stormwater Feasibility Study for certain neighborhoods in the Township. The study will review sixteen areas in West Goshen that do not have any stormwater management controls in place. Naturally these are our older neighborhoods, built decades ago before stormwater infrastructure was required. The scope of work involves analyzing the stormwater flows for various storm intensities, determining possible conveyance routes to water courses, identifying if detention is feasible, considering pollutant reductions to benefit our permit compliance, and developing engineering cost estimates for consideration of a long-term capital construction program. American Rescue Plan Act funds received by the Township will be used to pay for this study. The Board believes study results will educate everyone - staff, elected officials, residents and businesses - about what are feasible solutions to address these currently unmanaged stormwater problems. While the study will take several months to complete, there will be check-in points along the way for dialogue with the Board and residents at our public meetings.
We continue to receive redevelopment proposals for a few prominent commercial properties in our Township. A new Aldi supermarket, bank and restaurant are to be constructed at the former WCASD property on Paoli Pike; and currently in the municipal planning process is a proposed redevelopment of components of the West Goshen Shopping Center, specifically the construction of a new freestanding restaurant and reconfiguration of the vacant retail space formerly occupied by K-Mart. If you want to know more about land development activities and have the opportunity to provide comments and ask questions, please attend the Planning Committee and Board of Supervisors public meetings where proposals are reviewed and discussed. You can also find information on the Township website and in our eNewsletter, and email any comments or questions to Board members or Chris Bashore at cbashore@westgoshen.org – The Board welcomes your participation.
With best regards,
Shaun Walsh
Chair, Board of Supervisors
West Goshen Township