Dear Friend of the Barclay Grounds, This is a long letter – because we are now at the most important juncture of the whole “Save The Barclay Grounds” campaign. So if you just want the Cliff Notes version, here it is … Please come to the meeting this Tuesday, at which Council will vote on whether or not to move ahead with the first “closing” to purchase the Barclay Grounds. It has been a long campaign and some “campaign fatigue” may be setting in - but this is the last and most important vote for you to attend. If the vote goes our way (which, with your support, it will) then we will have saved the Barclay Grounds. If it goes against us then the Barclay Grounds will soon be gone forever. If you cannot make it to the meeting, please call or write to your Council representative ahead of time (their contact information is at the bottom of this letter). _________________________________ At 6:30 pm on Tuesday (7/22), in a special meeting devoted only to the Barclay Grounds purchase, Council will vote on whether to go ahead with the first “closing” on the Barclay Grounds. This must be completed by July 31st or the deal to purchase the property is off, the trees will come down and the four houses will soon be built. However, if the “closing” is completed on time, the Borough will own the two lots on the N. High Street side of the property. They will then be on track to preserve the whole parcel by completing the second “closing” (i.e. purchasing the two N. Church Street lots) by December 31st. So please come to the Council Chambers at 6:30 pm this Tuesday to demonstrate your support to Council for moving ahead with the first half of the purchase of the Barclay Grounds. All the hard work that we have done together over the last 15 months has been aimed at getting to this very moment. Please help us to get across the finish line by being physically present in Council Chambers on Tuesday evening. Our best chance of success is to have a strong, visible presence at the time of the vote. If you cannot physically be there then please write to, or call, your Council representative ahead of time. They really do read and listen to messages from their constituents. They want to know your views so they can appropriately represent you in Council. Their contact information is given at the end of this e-mail. Over the past 15 months we have come such a long way. We started in a hopeless position, where the developer had already obtained planning permission and had even entered into “intent to sell” agreements with potential buyers for the lots - to having success clearly within our reach. During that time we have: • Generated over 2,100 signatures on a petition asking Council to save the Barclay Grounds • Persuaded Council to vote on an ordinance of “eminent domain” – resulting in a “friendly” “sale in lieu of condemnation” (which gives the seller the right to certain tax benefits) • Raised a significant amount of money – $20K of which we gave to the Borough to pay for the non-refundable deposit due when the purchase contract was signed in December 2013 • Identified grants worth over $1 million which the Borough can apply for to defray the costs of purchasing and preserving the Barclay Grounds – and paid for two outstanding land preservation organizations (the Brandywine Conservancy and the Natural Lands Trust) to write applications for those grants on behalf of the Borough • Helped obtain a grant of $125K from the Chester County Open Space Preservation program –with the promise that we can go back to request additional money at the end of this year Over the past few weeks, we have worked with multiple stakeholders to develop a new, viable financial strategy – given the lower than anticipated first grant from the County. The vote was held over from last week’s Council meeting at our request to allow us to finalize the terms under which the BGPA will provide upto $200K of funding to cover any gap between the purchase price and the total value of grants received. We have used the time effectively. Now, with this final vote, we can Save The Barclay Grounds forever! Please come and be counted - or better yet, bring a friend and be “counted” twice! ________________________________ There is one last point I would like to discuss in this e-mail – the current controversy, that was written about in the Daily Local News this past week, regarding a letter that the President of West Chester Borough Council (Jorden Norley) submitted to the DCNR in support of a request for funding to help preserve the Barclay Grounds. In what appeared to be a politically motivated attempt to discredit Mr. Norley a member of the audience questioned his integrity regarding both the letter’s content and the process by which it was vetted. My understanding is that, in the interest of time, given the change in circumstances resulting from the County’s lower than anticipated grant award, Mr. Norley needed to quickly send a letter in support of the Borough’s grant application or risk having it not be considered this year. Before sending the letter he consulted four members of Council (a majority); and subsequently made arrangements for the other three to be informed of his action. The questioner’s insinuation was that Mr. Norley had committed the Borough to an expenditure of funds without properly consulting the Council first. However, Michael Gill, the Borough Solicitor, stated publicly in the Council meeting that the letter did not improperly commit taxpayer funds; and that the ordinance enacted last year to buy the property gave both the Council President the authority to send such a letter in an effort to secure funding for the project. Instead of being vilified for his action on behalf of the Barclay Grounds and the 2,100 people who petitioned the Council to save the property, Mr. Norley should be credited for his quick-thinking and proactive leadership on this issue. It is, however, likely that a small but vocal group will attempt to raise the letter again, and potentially de-rail the Barclay Grounds discussion on Tuesday for their own political advantage – making it essential that we have a large attendance at the meeting to demonstrate that the wish of the Borough’s residents is for the Council to move ahead and save the Barclay Grounds. I look forward to seeing you there. Best Wishes, John Cottage ___________________________________ CONTACT INFORMATION FOR COUNCIL MEMBERS First Ward - Bill Scott Tel: (610) 436-4644 bscott@west-chester.com Second Ward - Cassandra Jones Tel: (610) 202-4141 cljones@west-chester.com Third Ward - Brian Abbott Tel: (610) 255-7236 babbott@west-chester.com Fourth Ward & Council President - Jordan Norley Tel: (610) 389-0973 jnorley@west-chester.com Fifth Ward - Don Braceland Tel: (215) 813-8141 dbraceland@west-chester.com Sixth Ward & Council Vice President - Stephen Shinn Tel: (302) 388-7811 Sshinn@west-chester.com Seventh Ward - Ellen Koopman Tel: (267) 992-6211 ekoopman@west-chester.com