Channin

NEWS RELEASE FROM FRIENDS OF JESTER PARK May 2004

MAY 21 2004

Friends of Jester Park







Councilman Robert S. Weiner and Representative Wayne A. Smith


Gerald Kennedy, Contact for Benton,
Joe Dorris, President, Brandon C.A.

Ray Walsh, President, Brandywood C.A.
Mike Gumrot, President, Chalfonte C.A.

Susan Cobin, President, Chapelcroft C.A.
Lou Liarakos, President, Country Gates C.A.

Cindy Lynch, Contact for Exton.
Oliver Yeaton, Contact for Foulk Woods.

Tod Baseden, Contact for Grubb Road.
Jean Morales, President, Kimberly Chase C.A.

Elizabeth Roche, President, Shipley Woods C.A.
Ken Pineault, President, Talleybrook C.A.

John Borsos, President, Tarleton C.A. Tina Rydgren, President, Woodbine C.A.

Lydia Companion, Contact for Chalfonte.




Jester Park Survey Shows Overwhelming Support for a Passive Park


In a survey of public opinion, organized by Councilman Bob Weiner, with the support of State Representative Wayne Smith, local residents within a two square mile area surrounding the Jester County Park on Grubb Road have shown overwhelming support for having the current “active” designation of the park changed to “passive”. This survey was conducted, by individual interviews amongst most of the residential communities in the area bounded by Foulk, Silverside, Shipley and Naamans Roads. Nineteen communities containing two thousand residences, plus many of the independent residences along Grubb Road, were targeted. Not everyone in the area was contacted, as only a sampling of opinion was needed. The survey was aimed at asking the simple question: “Do you prefer to see Jester Park developed as an active park or as a passive park?” About sixty survey takers were involved and each was instructed as to the characteristics of an active and a passive park, as it would most likely apply to Jester Park, so that the person being interviewed could be informed of the issues. In taking the survey, additional comments were sometimes received and these were noted for passing on to the County Administration for its guidance.



The following were the results of the survey:



Total number of interviews 881

Number preferring “Passive” 756 (85.8% of the total)

Number preferring “Active” 110 (12.5% of the total)

Number having no opinion 15 (1.7% of the total)



Two main comments were received:

(1) Many of those who preferred “Passive” particularly wished that the farm and the cattle continue to be a part of the park.

(2) Many of the residents of Chalfonte, particularly those who live near the park, would like to see the park fenced so that there was no access to the park through the Chalfonte community, including through Hanby Middle School.



Most residents in the vicinity of Grubb Road know the Jester Park as “the farm on Grubb Road with the cows” near the intersection with Naamans Road. The farm, which is about 200 years old, was acquired by New Castle County from the Jester family in the mid-1970’s and was, soon afterwards, designated by New Castle County for development as an active recreational park.

The Jester County Park, including the farm, consists of twenty-five acres of mixed grasslands and woodlands that stretch back from Grubb Road to near Hanby Middle School. There is an additional five-acre strip of grassland that lies between the farm and the school that could be incorporated into the park, making a total of thirty acres of land available for parkland development.



The county has owned the land for about thirty years and over that time it has been used by Hy-Point Dairy Farms (without a formal lease until recently), as a cattle farm. But local residents, many of whom enjoy the rural image that the farm brings to their area, have become concerned about what will happen after the recently negotiated lease to Hy-Point Dairy Farms expires, which will be in less than five years from now. An active recreational park of this size would offer substantial opportunities for youth team sports such as soccer, baseball and softball, with additional facilities for picnicking, including tables, grills, shelters, and would require substantial paved parking areas. Unfortunately the access to such a park would be from Grubb Road, a narrow road that is already heavily traveled and could not easily handle the extra traffic that such a park would attract.



In contrast to an active recreational park, a passive recreational park would be much quieter and not require a substantial paved parking area. The passive park would have a low-key atmosphere. In such a park, the farm could continue to operate and could also become an educational resource to local schools. The additional land, not occupied by the farm, could be landscaped and simply used for public enjoyment of a quiet rural area. Clearly, the traffic demands for such a facility would be much less than if the land were to be used as an “active” park.



Grubb Road is essentially a country road. The community has worked with area elected officials and the State Department of Transportation to design a community consensus for a "context sensitive designed” pathway that will eventually meander along Grubb Road. This pathway will not be an over-engineered sidewalk, it will respect the fact that there are mature trees along Grubb Road, as well as fieldstone walls that date back to Colonial times. It will curve around the existing trees to the greatest extent possible. Once the pathway is constructed by the State Department of Transportation in a few years, it will allow residents who live along Grubb Road, or in subdivisions along Grubb Road, to walk safely along Grubb Road for the first time and children will be able to walk safely to school. A pathway running from Grubb Road through Jester Park would give local residents safe access to the park to enjoy its passive beauty and its historic farmhouse and barn.

Councilman Bob Weiner, Representative Wayne Smith and community leaders have urged New Castle County to adopt a program, known as a Resident Curator Program, to protect the Jester farmhouse and other historic buildings in the county. The Resident Curator Program, which has been successfully used in Maryland and elsewhere, provides a means of restoring and preserving county-owned (or state-owned) historic structures without expense to the taxpayers. The program essentially involves a contract between the county and a qualified person (curator) who commits to investing a significant sum of money and 'sweat equity' in the restoration and preservation of the property, and at the same time agrees to make it available to the public for periodic “open house” inspections. In return, the curator is given a lifetime rent-free lease to the property.

Councilman Bob Weiner originally proposed that New Castle County adopt a Resident Curator Program about four years ago and he continues to urge New Castle County to adopt this program as a means for preserving historic properties without using public funds.

State Representative Wayne Smith authored legislation in Dover, which was passed into law last year, which establishes a Resident Curator Program Tax Credit, through which the state will provide a $5,000 tax credit for qualified expenses related to the property. He is in addition urging the state to adopt its own Resident Curator Program that would apply to state-owned properties.

Over a dozen private citizens have formally requested to be considered as "Resident Curator" of the Jester farmhouse and last year a petition with 427 signatures from local residents was presented to the County Administration urging that the farmhouse be protected with a Resident Curator Program. But so far there has been no evidence that the County Administration is acting on clearly expressed local community wishes.

Last year, Councilman Bob Weiner initiated a Historic Overlay Zoning petition to protect the farm and its historic structures at Jester County Park. This petition was supported by the County Historic Review Board as well as by many local residents, but it was opposed by the County Administration on the basis that it would unnecessarily restrict the use of the land. Practical considerations require County Administration support for such a petition. In consequence, Councilman Weiner recently reintroduced a modified Historic Overlay Zoning petition that sought to protect the historic Jester Farm buildings and 1.4 acres of surrounding land that fronts onto Grubb Road. The Historic Review Board immediately supported this modified petition and we now urge the County Administration to give it their support too. Such protection for this property will make it easier to establish a Resident Curator for it.

No one will deny the value of facilities that encourage youth team sports, but fortunately for the residents in the area of the Jester Park, both the nearby Talley Day and Bonsall Parks offer active sports facilities. In addition, plans are afoot to demolish the derelict Channin and Old Mill Lane elementary school buildings in the Brandywine School District that have been determined to be surplus to the foreseeable needs of the School District (see http://www.bsd.k12.de.us/superintendent.htm). The School District has indicated its willingness to make the cleared land on these sites available to the County for lease to be used for recreational parkland. The first of these two schools, Channin on Naamans Road, is only about half a mile from the Jester Park. Through an opinion survey, local residents there have expressed a desire for this 10.5 acre site to be designated as a recreational park, and have expressed a willingness to have Concord Soccer Association use it for their home ground, provided that certain community concerns be addressed, including that the access to the park be only from Naamans Road and not through the surrounding community. The second, Old Mill Lane School off Shipley Road near I-95, will make 11.0 acres available for another recreational park. In a similar opinion survey, the local communities of Shelburne and Liftwood have expressed a willingness to have Talleyville Girls Softball League use the park for their home ground.



Even if Jester Park becomes “passive”, residents in Brandywine Hundred will see more than twenty acres of new parkland becoming available to them to help accommodate the active recreational needs of our youth. Councilman Bob Weiner has organized and supported a series of meetings involving citizen leaders/civic associations surrounding the “mothballed” Old Mill Lane and Channin schools, with representatives of the Concord Soccer League and Talleyville Girls Softball League. The purpose of these meetings is to seek community input and to educate the communities about the unique opportunity to preserve open space in Brandywine Hundred for both active and passive recreational needs. This has resulted in an overwhelming support for these interrelated parkland initiatives.



Now that a community consensus has been determined, it is Councilman Bob Weiner’s intention to seek support from New Castle County and County Executive Tom Gordon to enter into a long-term lease for the Channin and Old Mill Lane School sites with the Brandywine School District. Under the leadership of House Majority Leader Wayne Smith, who, with other Brandywine Hundred state legislators, is working collaboratively with Councilman Bob Weiner, a State initiative is underway to identify the necessary funds to raze both surplus schools after removal of asbestos. Both school sites currently operate as de facto informal parks. Should the schools be removed and should New Castle County enter into a long-term lease with Brandywine School District to protect the school sites as parkland, then subsequent subleases could be entered into between the County and the Concord Soccer Association and Talleyville Girls Softball League. Both of these organizations have populations of community children that would be able to play soccer and softball at these parks under proper parental supervision.