There are 96 parcels and 63 property owners who would begin paying the annual assessments in 2021. The mailboxes cost about $400, and sign posts cost $750.
Keim said the money would be used to replace the decorative mailboxes and poles that hold street signs — if they get damaged — that were installed as part of the $7.8 million widening project that concluded last fall. The goal is to maintain a uniform look throughout that area of Olde West Chester. If there are excess funds in the future, the money can be spent on landscape and other amenities like benches.
During a public hearing on Tuesday after the matter was tabled once after residents and Trustee Mark Welch raised concerns, Jan Frankel, who owns the largest parcel, asked the trustees to remove her land from the proposed district. She said the 72-acre vacant tract is roped by guardrails because of the rough topography and sidewalks, and poles will never be installed. With its location next to highway, the land really isn’t part of Olde West Chester, she said.
“I am getting assessed or taxed, whatever word you want to use, more than anyone else,” Frankel said. “Our property is getting absolutely no benefit, no mailboxes, no light poles, no benches, no sidewalk, no nothing.”
At the last meeting when the district was discussed several people asked the township to take the non-profits out of the district. Those properties, owned by St. John Evangelical Catholic Church, West Chester Presbyterian Church and others, were not included in the original district but were added at Welch’s request.
Welch still feels the non-profits should pay because they draw a benefit from the improvements. However, he told the Journal-News later it probably makes sense to exclude Frankel’s property.
“We’ll have to talk about it and see if we want to take that piece out,” Welch said. “Because it is sort of up there beyond Olde West Chester, the classic Olde West Chester.”
The Rev. Tyler Pettigrew, pastor of the Presbyterian church, said while the $200 annual assessment his church would owe isn’t a lot of money, it is the principle of the issue that matters. A couple of the churches are also included in antique lighting district from a couple years ago.
Pettigrew said he is neutral on the creation of the district but his church and other religious organizations should be excluded.
“I think it is irresponsible to force non-profit entities to use money that has been donated by the constituents, who already pay taxes for this purpose and who donated to in our case a religious organization for the purpose of using toward religious mission, to then be forcibly given to a government agency to be used for something that is other than a religious mission, is a questionable practice in my mind,” Pettigrew said. “If not against the idea of having a non-profit religious organization.”
The trustees will vote on the district July 28.
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