Proposal Draft (updated 9/24)

WRT120-44

Sept. 24, 2013

Proposal to Save Barclay Park

Project Description

I went on the Borough of West Chester website, where I read the format for the planning of building more houses.  What I found as the most interesting piece of information was their only reason to do so was to "meet the housing needs of...anticipated future residents of the Borough." They want to rid of a beautiful park for residents that may or may not come? That seems utterly ridiculous to me.

                                                                            - Gabriella Maddaloni

Project Significance

Because the content of this particular Writing Emphasis course focuses on energy and environmental concerns, what better way than to apply what we have learned this semester both about the environment and about writing toward attempting to conserve a little slice of land—Barclay Park—in West Chester, PA? Barclay Park is currently slated for development; in fact, developers already have an agreement of sale on the property. We wish to raise the awareness of other WCU students and of the West Chester community. Hopefully, we can work together to help those citizens presently protesting that West Chester council members’ protect the land and rare tree specimens that currently exist on the Barclay Park property by voting to condemn the land and through something called “eminent domain” (and thereby becoming the owners of the park). By raising interest through better informing others of what is happening in our own largely over-developed backyard, we hope to form a critical mass whose common aim is to protect the park from becoming another development.

History

According to the “Rationale for Saving ‘The Barclay’ Grounds” article, the Barclay grounds have been (and still are) used as a park by residents of the borough” and “the trees on the grounds are an important part of the Borough’s eco-system [sic] and are described in the National Register of Historic Places as containing ‘one of the most diverse collections of historic specimen trees of any property in West Chester’.” This document also mentions that there is “a tradition of the Barclay grounds having been defended from development going back to the 1960s. At least four times the residents have acted to save the property. Now the block has been sub-divided and the southern parcel is being sold for development as four housing lots. This piece of ground is larger than a football field (including end zones) and the plans are for the parcel to be clear-cut to make way for the houses.” Supposedly in the 1970s or '80s, in “one situation a local resident is reported to have said, ‘Over my dead body’ as she stood in front of the bulldozers, preventing them from damaging trees” ("Rationale"2).

Sources

Cottage, John. “West Chester Borough Council: Save the Historic Barclay Grounds from Development.” Petition.  change.org. 23 Sept 2013. <https://www.change.org/petitions/west-chester-borough-council-save-the-historic-barclay-grounds-from-development>.

Gerrard, Jeremy. “W. Chester residents want Barclay saved.” Daily Local. 8 Sept 2013. 24 Sept 2013. <http://www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20130809/NEWS01/130809621>.

Gerrard, Jeremy. “West Chester Accepts Barclay Plan, Pursuing Condemnation.” Daily Local. 17 Sept 2013. 23 Sept 2013. <http://www.dailylocal.com/government-and-politics/20130918/west-chester-accepts-barclay-plan-pursuing-condemnation#.Ujmo-SPdDro.email>.

“Rationale for Saving ‘The Barclay’ Grounds from Development as Houses (corner of N. High and E. Marshall Sts., West Chester, PA).” 24 Sept 2013. <http://www.savethebarclaygrounds.org/story81213.pdf>.

[Add these: 

http://www.savethebarclaygrounds.org/

http://westchester.patch.com/groups/events/p/voice-your-opinion-about-the-historic-barclay-grounds--at-the-final-borough-working-meeting]

Procedures

To raise awareness about Barclay Park, we propose, as a class, to take a series of field trips to the park, document our experiences there, research the park’s history, collect oral history relating to the park from relevant persons in West Chester, create a booklet to distribute that will offer information about Barclay Park and the danger it faces, develop a hash tag campaign, a protest on the campus lawn, signatures for the change.org petition (or start our own petition), a fun contest fundraiser, and organize and pull off a party for the park.

[Add explanation of how the project will be implemented, the methods, materials, supplies or other resources that will be used to carry out the work, and state the project’s specific objectives.]

PROPOSAL COVER PAGE

SAVE BARCLAY PARK

[Abstract (maximum 250 words; summarizes the intended goals and outcomes of the project)]