Chester, Pennsylvania

The latest city planning meeting in @ Chester City Hall 8.21.08 turned out to be a productive one. A number of residents, business owners and community leaders came out to hear what the deal is with the water front development. The focus of the meeting was about the environmental remediation / cleanup process, which will be a key part of the Stadium & Waterfront Development.

Now what makes this environmental remediation so important is due to the land’s past history of EXCESSIVE industrial use since the early 1800’s. The most remarkable incident occurred when in 1978 a dump called the Wade Dump caught on fire. The dump was located just beneath the Commodore Barry Bridge. The fact that the fire was a CHEMICAL fire was not disclosed to the fighters that arrived. The dump contained over 200 of the worst toxic chemicals. Since then a number of fire fighters have died due to their exposure to these toxins. Although, the Wade Dump has gone through a cleaning process there is still some concern about the presence of these chemicals in the soil as well as how much of the ground water has been effected.

Weston Solutions and BPG (Buccini/Pollin Group,Inc sent representatives and power point presentations to explain what the environmental remediation would consist of. After these presentations residents and local business owners got a chance to ask questions about where the soil would be disposed if found to be contaminated, how would the development effect the surrounding property tax? Would residents continue to afford living in the area? Would it bring a supermarket to Chester being that Chester has been without a market for decades now? How does the commercial standard vs. the residential standard play off of each other in regards to the environmental remediation? What truck routes will be taken to ensure that residents are not unnecessarily exposed to contaminated soils?

Fire fighters demanded for more firemen to be hired along with equipment being that the soccer stadium would indefinitely bring in an influx of new residency and visitors to the city. They also inquired about having a memorial built in honor of the firefighters who died in the 1978 Wade Dump catastrophe. The Mayor assured them that the memorial was being considered but did not promise to beef up the fire department.

It was these concerns, questions and demands that echoed in the community room. The hope is that they will continue to ring in the ears of the developers, city officials and investors.

Building a city is nice but building a community is much better.