Channin

MORE ON THE SCHOOL! Feb 2004

Channin School site - February 2004

The abandoned Channin School has been closed since the late 1970s. The Brandywine school district was declaring the 10-acre site surplus property under a process set out in state law. State and county agencies would have had the right to acquire the properties for their use. If there were no takers, then the property would be offered to the public at fair market value.

The state bond bill, passed last year by the General Assembly, contained language which applies to only Channin and Old Mill schools, and bypassed the surplus property provisions. This provision gave the state control of the disposition and reuse of these properties. One of the reported purposes of this provision was to allow the state to move quickly should the right business opportunity come along. The property is valued in excess of a million dollars.

The Channin Civic Association (CCA) and the Council of Civic Associations of Brandywine Hundred (CCOBH) went on record as favoring preservation of the Channin site as open space or using it for parkland. Local state and county legislators expressed support for this position. There are two ball fields currently at Channin which have been in use since the school closed over twenty years ago. Talleyville Girls softball league and the Concord Soccer Association are interested in both sites as field locations for their programs

New Castle County and the State share responsibility for providing community facilities and services to provide quality of life amenities for County residents. Development of a local park or athletic complex at these sites would be consistent with County and State land use policies.

DEDO had discussions for some time with a loan company interested in construction of an office building at the Channin location. The CCA leadership worked with local officials and the leaders of other Brandywine Hundred civic organizations to map out a process to achieve our common goal of creating a park or green space on the Channin School site. The first step in this process was completed successfully when the state, in response to community pressure, abandoned efforts to create an office complex at Channin school.

Local government officials have continued this process and now have mapped out a plan to allow development of a softball complex by Talleyville Girls Softball league at Old Mill Lane school and a Soccer complex by Concord Soccer Association at Channin School. Funding to tear down the existing buildings could be included in the 2005 state budget which is currently being developed in the State legislator’s Joint Finance Committee. See the Jester Park Meeting update notes below for information about a public meeting held in January on this subject.

Briefly, the state would finance building removal and site remediation. The school district would lease or sell the properties to government. Control of the properties would then be transfered to the respective leagues who would be responsible for construction and maintenance of the athletic complex. Appropriate Zoning and code requirements would, of course, apply.

This plan appears to have broad support in the larger Brandywine Hundred community as it serves to keep this million dollar property green while filling a need for recreational facilities at little or no cost to the County.

Channin residents must express any concerns about the design of this complex early so that your input can be included. As this process moves forward, it is important that we stay constructively engaged. You must let your local legislators know how you feel!

Local Legislative support

Councilman Weiner, Rep Valihura and Sen Cloutier have all expressed support for the community position that the Channin site should remain green space.
Control of the property remains with the state. Let them know how you feel!

Update from Jester Park Public meeting

Jester Park Meeting
Brandywine High School
Jan 12 2004

Councilman Bob Wiener hosted this public meeting with State Representatives Bob Valihura and Wayne Smith among those in attendance.

The principal focus of the meeting was the status of Jester Park. Councilman Weiner briefly discussed the history of the site. This county owned property was one of the last Brandywine Hundred farms when it was acquired in the early seventies. It has continued to be used be used as a beef cattle grazing operation under a lease from the county to Hypoint Dairy, a local dairy company. The buildings on the site have been proposed for a historic designation. Various initiatives were discussed. In an effort to provide an accurate measurement of the local communities views on the future of the site, volunteers are initiating a survey of those communities within roughly a 1-mile radius. Survey results would be shared with New Castle County for their use in considering the future of the site, which is currently in use as a passive park. New Castle county parks are considered passive parks or active parks. Active parks contain recreational facilities such as Ball fields while passive parks are generally limited to walking paths and park benches etc. (Channin is not within the survey zone for the Jester Park survey).

The future of the Channin and Old Mill lane school sites was discussed. The school district wants to rid themselves of the liability of the school buildings. Community opposition prevented the use of the Channin property as a commercial office development. There is support from local legislators to try to acquire funding in the next state budget for demolishing the buildings and transferring the properties to the County. Both locations have been used actively as athletic fields for some time and there is strong Brandywine Hundred support for use of these properties for that purpose in the future. One concept that has emerged is for the state to complete the demolition and remediation work at the sites and then transfer or lease the sites from the school district to the county. The county could then lease or transfer the sites to local athletic leagues. Both Concord Soccer League and Talleyville Girls softball league have interest in such an arrangement. A Talleyville League officer spoke about the possibility of using the Old Mill Lane site for four softball fields, which would allow them to concentrate most of their games at one site. A Concord Soccer League representative spoke about the possibility of putting four Soccer fields and parking at the Channin site for use by their traveling teams rather than league play. The Soccer facility concept calls for access from Naamans road only and could have a walking path and other facilities included.
Council Weiner emphasized that community input is needed and discussions are still going on. A survey of the affected communities should be done. Additional Meetings on the subject of these sites are likely in the future.

Links

Contact Gov Ruth Ann Minner
Delaforum Article on School board and Bond bill
Delaforum on local civic leadership meeting
The News Journal
News Journal reports effort to locate office building twarted