A potpourri of miscellaneous news SCRIBBLED IN A REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

FINAL SCHOOL BUDGET PRESENTED: The Brandywine Board of Education will be asked to approve a $98.5 million spending plan for the present fiscal year when it meets on Dec. 19. Although that is slightly higher than the $97.8 million in the preliminary version approved in October, chief financial officer David Blowman said the district still will end the year next June 30 with a $1.3 million carryover. That "may appear low" in light of district residents having approved raising the tax-rate ceiling, thereby providing an additional $5.2 million in local revenue, but it reflects $3.6 million of overspending in fiscal 2002, $700,000 in additional cost to pay for teacher salary increases, and financing part of the district's strategic plan, he said.

The budget provides for the district to 'give back' $925,799 in state financing to help alleviate the state's financial pinch.  To reach that amount -- the district's share of the total request to public schools -- the list of cuts to go before the board reflect significant reductions from an earlier verrsion in the amounts to be taken from school discipline programs and professional development for teachers. A cut in teacher tuition reimbursement was totally eliminated. (Click for details of the proposed 'give backs'.) Blowman and Superintendent Bruce Harter promised the board continued diligence in cost cutting. "We are now living within our [state teacher allocations], which has not always been the case in the past," Blowman said. (Read previous article.)

¨    ¨   ¨

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN: An advisory group continues to wrestle with the task of drafting a county ordinance requiring residential developers to set aside conservation areas in new communities. While there appears to be agreement on the concept, civic and business representatives in the group differ sharply on how it can be accomplished. Main sticking points are who should own and manage the dedicated land, how much tax money should be used to maintain it, and whether County Council or the Planning Board and Department of Land Use should have the final word when it comes approving that element in development plans. Discussion of the issue is slated to resume after the turn of the year.

¨    ¨   ¨

Artist Vicki Scuri has been told to 'tone down' the public artwork proposed for the park-road underpass and thewall around the Weldin Plantation ruins in the planned Alapocas Run State Park at Blue Ball

"We're looking for a more subtle approach" as a result of objections raised at a 'workshop style' presentation, said Robert King, a Delaware Department of Transportation spokesman. "Some people were favorable to the [design] version that was presented and others opposed," he claimed. He acknowledged that the department "didn't expect quite that number of people who didn't like it." Unlike hearings on public projects that used to be held, 'workshops' are limited to receiving written and oral comments which are not made generally available to public view. While DelDOT evidently will bend somewhat to public response, King noted that "public art is, by its nature, a subjective thing."

Meanwhile, the civic group that was the most vociferous in its public objections to the artwork, including that proposed for the Blue Ball barn, evidently will revisit the issue in private. The Council of Civic Organizations of Brandywine Hundred has scheduled an executive committee meeting with state Department of Parks & Recreation officials which president Daniel Bockover said will be behind closed doors. Denying Delaforum's request to attend for the purpose of informing the public about what happens, Bockover said, "Regretfully, [I] am unable to include any[one] beyond those specifically invited." Originally scheduled to be held on Dec. 5 in Bellevue State Park, the meeting was postponed because of that day's snowfall.

Mark Chura, the parks department official who is leading its participation in the overall Blue Ball Project, said the meeting, initiated by Brandywine Council, is intended to present details of the plans for the barn, which he said were "not well understood' when presented in detail at the 'workshop'. Attenders at a subsequent Brandywine Council meeting strongly objected to several aspects of the plans and unanimously approved a sense-of-meeting resolution to that effect. The main bones of contention were the proposed construction of a two-story contemporary-style addition to the barn  and painting the historic structure yellow. Read previous story.

Artist Jerome Meadows was paid $10,000 to come up with the 'public art' concept for the barn. King said the amount that Scuri will receive has not yet been determined. Coincidentally, the limit on the amount which can be paid by a public agency in Delaware without seeking bids is $10,000.

¨    ¨   ¨

IT'S ALREADY THERE: Anyone concerned about scofflaws hiding their license plates from Wilmington's traffic-light enforcement cameras need look no further than state law for a remedy. Paragraph 2126 in Title 21 of the Delaware Code bans anything "placed on or around a number plate which would conceal and/or obscure any information contained on the plate." It specifically references "tinted material." City Council reportedly is considering enacting an ordinance banning the plastic covers sold in auto-supply stores and on the Internet, as first reported by Delaforum.. All they have to do is alert the police force and meter maids to be on the lookout for them. The state law carries a $25 to $50 fine for violations. Read previous story.

Another obvious purpose for the shields is to enable travelers to run the E.Z. Pass lanes on toll roads. That is not yet regarded as a significant problem, according to Robert King, a Delaware Department of Transportation spokesman, but he acknowledges that it could become one. He could not say how much the state is losing as a result of the practice nor provide a figure for the amount lost because of lane violations. Enforcement and toll and penalty collection is handled by the Secaucus, N.J.-based agency, which administers the Delaware system. Another item on the E.Z. Pass beat: Pennsylvania at last opens its express lanes to trucks and other commercial vehicles on Dec. 14.

¨    ¨   ¨

Sunoco Inc. has asked U.S. District Court to dismiss the suit filed against it by the Clean Air Council seeking up to $1.8 million in fines for 67 Clean Air Act violations at its Marcus Hook refinery.

Calling the civil action "baseless," the company asks the court to require the council to reimburse it for legal fees and other expenses incurred defending against it. Sunoco's lawyers argue in a brief filed in the court in Wilmington that the Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control was diligent, within the intent of the law, when it imposed a civil penalty of $390,000, plus $10,000 in costs, for the same violations that the citizen's suit alleges. Other courts have held that lesser penalties satisfied the law's requirement that state agencies be held accountable for enforcing the Clean Air standards. "A mere disagreement with the results of [state] enforcement action will not suffice" to demonstrate laxity by the department, according to the brief.

In its brief, Sunoco said that it is complying with an agreement to seek a solution to the problem of having to use its flare to burn off  hydrogen sulfide, a byproduct of petroleum refining, when the adjacent General Chemical plant is unable to accept that gas for use in its sulfuric acid process. Sunoco has announced plans to build a sulfur-recovery unit to replace the present arrangement. It claims, however, that  its Delaware emissions permit allows flaring in the event of a malfunction and that inability of the pipeline to transport gas to General Chemical is a malfunction. DNREC disputes that and the company claims inability to resolve the dispute "has had significant consequences for Sunoco financially and for future operations at the Marcus Hook refinery." Read previous story.

¨    ¨   ¨

HISTORIC HIGHWAY DESIGNATION SOUGHT: Philadelphia Pike has been nominated for designation as a state historic highway. If approved by Delaware Department of Transportation, that will confer additional preservation protection to various structures along the roadway between Wilmington and the state line north of Claymont. The application prepared by Dianna Mescher lists 19 historic buildings, the Citi Steel and General Chemical plants and the mile marker on the Robinson House property as worthy of consideration. The road itself, it said, has been in use since 1679.Parts of some of the buildings date back 300 years, the application said.

Return to Delaforum home page