Last week, West Chester Borough Council approved the dates for the 2024 street closure in a unanimous and uncontentious vote.

“This was sort of a non-event,” said Councilwoman Lisa Dorsey, who has sat in on many closure discussions as the chair of the Public Safety Committee. “This has been a big event for the last three or four years but there seems to be general consensus [that] weekends work for both retail and residents.”

Under the agreed-upon terms street closures will begin on Friday, May 3, and continue through Monday, Sept. 30. The street will close on Friday mornings and open again on Monday mornings except on weekends with a Monday holiday like Memorial Day. In those cases, the closure will extend through Tuesday morning.

Safety concerns addressed

While there were no comments made about safety at Tuesday’s meeting, Police Chief Josh Lee had previously raised safety concerns, especially regarding access. Similar concerns have been raised and discussed in previous years. So far little progress has been made over the years to address on-street safety. However, that is set to change next year.

“We are currently designing them,” Borough Manager Sean Mettrick said in response to a question about the Borough’s (still) planned proposal to add gates at multiple points on Gay Street.

Last year, the Borough was awarded a grant to help cover the cost of securing the roads. The Borough plans to use those funds to purchase and install four gates along Gay Street. There will be one at Matlack, on both sides of High, and New Street. According to Sean, this would account for half of the required gates. The inaugural gates should be in place for next year’s closure. The Borough is still seeking funding for the additional four.

---

Originally published on Feb. 23, 2024

This story was part of a longer West Chester newsletter featuring all the news and events of the week. Curious what else is going on? Subscribe now to get the full story. New issue comes out Friday.