Fulfill the Sunset Hill Preserve promise

+ reviving local civic engagement 🫵🏻

“Things that don’t shift and grow are dead things.”1

Change feels hard, but it’s inevitable and necessary. Change is a natural part of life and one we must embrace to move forward. Now, it’s time to shift and grow our open space in Chadds Ford by preparing Sunset Hill Preserve for passive public use as intended nearly over a decade ago.

We need your help to get over the hump. Let me explain.

I’ve previously mentioned Sunset Hill Preserve (here and here). It is a nearly 60-acre parcel of land with portions of it adjacent to Heyburn Rd, Ridge Rd, and the Chadds Ford Estates (among other neighborhoods). The land used to be a 188-acre Girl Scout Camp, most of which was developed into the Chadds Ford Estates community.

In her recent op-ed published in Chadds Ford Live, Luci Jankowski McClure explained how the open land came to Chadds Ford through negotiations with the developer. “Retaining open space and nature trails for the residents of Chadds Ford was a deal breaker in the negotiations and Toll Brothers acquiesced by gifting 58 acres to the township.” A promise was made many years ago to maintain the undeveloped portion of Sunset Hill Preserve as a public space available for passive use by residents, and the township is finally ready to follow through on opening up the existing paths for walking and hiking.

To that end, Sunset Hill Preserve has been a part of the Delaware County Open Space and Recreation Plan since at least 2015. That county report lists Sunset Hill Preserve as passive open space in Chadds Ford and defines passive open space as “generally unimproved land used for natural conservation or interpretation. It is well suited for activities such as hiking, bird watching, and education.” Nailed it. 💯

Chadds Ford has obtained grant funding to clean the existing paths, making them safe and available for low-intensity residential use. It’s time we followed through on the township and Delaware County’s commitment to allowing residents to use the public land for its intended purpose.

Unfortunately, progress on this project is stalled by a small group of residents who expressed concern about crime, hunting, wildfires, and arson. These are the same talking points used to oppose the passive use of open space in Chadds Ford in the past, and none of them have come to fruition. Are you surprised? Probably not.

Crime

The paths through Sunset Hill Preserve already exist; they were part of the property when it was a Girl Scout camp. It’s highly unlikely that cleaning up brush and overgrowth to permit walkers and hikers to use the area would attract inappropriate use of the space. Arguably, a more significant presence may deter bad behavior.

According to the National Association of Realtors, “There is also no correlation that trails increase crime in their surrounding areas.” There is no historical basis, locally or more broadly, to suggest that allowing residents to use walking paths increases crime.

Hunting

Residents note that illegal hunting on the preserve is already a problem. In response to resident concerns, the township invited state police and game warden officers to a recent township meeting to advise on best practices to limit illegal hunting as much as possible.

Increased use of the preserve and new signage around the preserve should reduce, not increase, the presence of illegal hunters. Walking paths draw more regular users to the area to informally patrol for improper use. The known presence of people on the property also increases the incentive for the township to ensure the space is safe for passive use.

Wildfires

As we’ve seen across the country and worldwide, climate change increases the risk of wildfires everywhere. Residents expressed concerns that clearing the paths for residential use could increase the risk of wildfires.

According to the USDA (which includes the US Forest Service), cleaning up brush, overgrowth, and dead vegetation in a forest mitigates wildfire risk; it doesn’t exacerbate it. If the Sunset Hill Preserve project impacts such risks, which are already low, it should alleviate wildfire risk. More active management and maintenance of the preserve should benefit nearby residents. 

Arson

Really? Clearing brush and overgrowth on existing walking paths will increase the likelihood of someone trying to burn down the forest? Come on. 🤨

Privacy

Some residents desire to prevent the paths from being used to maximize privacy in their yards. However, the paths will be 50 to 100 feet from private property lines.

The land has been slated for public use for many years. It is not the fiduciary responsibility of the township to maintain public lands in service of privacy for a handful of residents, particularly at the expense of reasonable use by all taxpayers. As McClure noted in her op-ed,

“Anyone buying property in Chadds Ford, or anywhere else for that matter, has access to view their deed and any encumbrances on their property before deciding to finalize the purchase. Prospective buyers also should take note of any encumbrances or uses of nearby property that could impact them.”

None of us are entitled to public land being preserved simply as a privacy barrier for our properties.

Boilerplate NIMBYisms

These are classic and weak NIMBYism (“not in my backyard”) arguments. People want public funds used to protect their personal preferences, prevent change, and provide privacy barriers for their properties despite not being the best and highest land use.

Residents should be allowed to respectfully express their support or concerns regarding township activities. However, we must also accept that the community is managed in a relatively utilitarian manner for everyone’s benefit. The township is tasked with putting our land to the highest and best use for the whole community. It’s not in the business of meeting every individual preference for each resident.

Call to action

The township’s Open Space Committee needs to hear from a meaningful number of residents that it is important to move forward promptly (especially before grant funds expire) to clear the trails and make this public land available for passive public use. The committee will meet on Wednesday, March 19th, at 7:00 p.m. to discuss this topic. If you’re available, I encourage you to attend and share your support for this project with the committee and township management.

I know evenings can be challenging. If you can’t make it, please email the township to let them know you support moving forward with the Sunset Hill Preserve project.

Showing up for local causes

Life gets busy, and we don’t have time to do everything to improve our community. But as a nation, most of us have abdicated our role as engaged participants in our democracy. An uninformed and disengaged public hollows out our democracy and leaves it in the hands of a few extremists.

I’m of a generation that has only known relative national prosperity and a government that worked well for most of us. I bet you are, too. We’ve become complacent about fulfilling our duty as active citizens in a democratic society. But…

Have you seen Washington lately??! 🙄 We’re running out of runway to be asleep at the wheel.

On a climate podcast regarding housing affordability and accessibility, the guest made an astute observation. He said:

“If you’re freaked out about national politics… go down to City Hall and get involved because you would be shocked by the number of very consequential decisions that are being made in your city that will have a much more immediate effect on your life than anything that’s happening in Washington, DC. And in fact, I would argue that a lot of the explanation for what’s happening in Washington, DC, is the degree to which people have completely checked out of local politics and don’t know why their city looks the way it does.”

– Matthew Lewis, on podcast, episode “Why housing is a pass/fail question for climate change“

I implore each of you to be part of building a stronger, more civically engaged culture and society. It doesn’t have to be open space preservation. Find a couple of topics close to your heart. Do the small things that ignite good changes in our community. Speak up for something. 📢 Do something. Heck, run for something! 🗳️

Be a little bit insufferable and stand for something.2 Agitators are the ones who drive change.

Join to advocate for open space

If open space management is an issue in our community that moves you, consider attending the Open Space Committee meeting on March 19th at 7 pm at the township building to share your perspective.

If open space isn’t “your issue” (and that’s fine), then find one that is. Let’s revive local civic engagement to rebuild the foundation of the democratic society that’s served us well for so long.