by Brendan Sample

Upcoming street improvement projects for Chestnut Hill were outlined at the April board meeting of the Chestnut Hill Community Association.

CHCA Executive Director Anne McNiff relayed information from the Philadelphia Streets Department that confirmed that seven different roads in the area will be getting improvements, starting in the fall of 2019 with construction lasting through spring of 2021. These streets include Chestnut Hill Avenue, Seminole Avenue, St. Martins Lane, Mermaid Lane, McCallum Street, Germantown Avenue and Bells Mills Road.

All of the named roads, except for Germantown and Bells Mills, will be getting upgrades to handicap ramps via the Americans with Disabilities Act. All but Germantown will have resurfacing work done, and the work on Germantown will focus on repairs to the Belgian block curb. No street will be completely closed off at any point since at least one lane of traffic will be open during the entirety of the construction.

CHCA President Laura Lucas confirmed the date of the board’s annual meeting for June 21 in place of the usual monthly meeting. Along with the annual meeting, nominations are now out for the annual awards and for the position of at-large director of the board. Nomination forms have been sent out to CHCA members and can be found in the pages of the Chestnut Hill Local as well. The forms are due in by May 10 at 5 p.m. for the awards and May 17 at 10 a.m. for the at-large director.

Kathi Clayton provided an update on the ongoing CHCA Fund Appeal, which stood at $55,130 at the time of the meeting, which was up about $20,000 compared to last month’s figure. With the substantial increase over the past month, Clayton is hoping to reach $60,000 by the end of the Appeal, which would still fall short of the initial $100,000 goal. Hoping to get to that figure next year, Clayton also promised an earlier start for the next fund drive, giving them more time to raise funds.

McNiff also spoke about the success of the recent Hoops Madness event, which saw more than 350 people sign up for a day of basketball at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. With so many participants playing in one space, McNiff expressed the hope for a second gym next year, as well as wanting to branch out to connect with more restaurants as sponsors than in previous years.

Mary Ann Boyer and Jean McCoubrey, co-chairs of the Chestnut Hill Tree Tenders, closed out the meeting by recapping the tree planting they organized over Earth Day weekend from April 21 to 22. Boyer and McCoubrey spoke about the benefits of planting trees in the area, including driving up property values for houses that have them planted outside, and offered a reminder that applications for trees to be planted in the fall are due soon. The previous deadline was May 1, but that has since been pushed back to May 5, so those interested in having a tree planted outside their property can contact MABoyer61@gmail.com.

The next CHCA board of directors meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 24, at Blossom Philadelphia, 102 E. Mermaid Lane.