Leaf trucks and a ghost town on the Schuylkill

West Chester · Phoenixville · West Goshen · East Goshen · Tredyffrin

How leaf pickup works around here (and what to do with the jack-o’-lantern)

Every fall, half my street rakes everything to the curb the first cold weekend, and the piles sit there for two weeks. Leaf pickup works differently in every town around here. West Chester sends a vacuum truck, other towns want paper bags, and in some you haul your leaves yourself. West Chester’s trucks start Monday Oct 26.

I pulled the actual schedules. In West Chester, north of Market gets Mondays and Tuesdays and south of Market gets Wednesdays and Thursdays, three passes per quadrant. West Goshen does three Saturday pickups. East Goshen takes paper bags every Wednesday. Tredyffrin’s Mill Road leaf site opens the same Monday.

Then there’s the pumpkin. Once Halloween is over, the jack-o’-lantern doesn’t belong in your leaf pile, and East Goshen says straight out that it won’t take pumpkins with yard waste. The full guide covers what gets a pile skipped and where the pumpkin can go.

The best stuff you missed around here on social this week. Short takes.

Townships keep writing data-center rules before anyone files an application. West Whiteland finished theirs, and East Caln takes its next step Wednesday. And in East Goshen tonight, Aqua wants to add PFAS treatment tanks at a neighborhood well.

West Whiteland · East Caln · Wed Oct 21 · 1:30pm

Data-center rules, township by township

West Whiteland supervisors adopted a data-center ordinance on Oct 14. Big, standalone data centers can only go in the heavy industrial (I-2) district. Smaller data centers inside other buildings are now barred from residential districts, and the noise chapter gets a new limit. Next door, East Caln supervisors meet Wednesday at 1:30pm at 110 Bell Tavern Rd to decide whether to advertise their own draft ordinance. That’s a step toward a vote, not the vote itself. East Marlborough held a hearing on its version Oct 14, but the result isn’t public yet. If your township is next, now is the time to read the drafts. West Whiteland ordinances · East Caln agenda

East Goshen · Thorncroft Dr · tonight, Tue Oct 20 · 7pm

Aqua’s PFAS treatment at the Thorncroft well

Aqua Pennsylvania wants to add PFAS treatment at its well in an easement across 620 and 622 Thorncroft Dr. The plan is two resin tanks, each about 6 feet across and 15 feet tall, on a concrete pad by the well building, with new landscaping. PENNVEST is funding it, and it’s due by late winter 2027. Why now? The well tested 4.3 to 4.5 parts per trillion of PFOA in 2024, and the EPA limit is 4.0, with compliance due in 2029. Barely over, but over is still over. Tonight around 7:25 at 1580 Paoli Pike is most likely testimony only. The Planning Commission reviews it Oct 27, and a decision is likely Nov 17. Want a say? Speak tonight in person or on Zoom, or show up in person at the Planning Commission on Oct 27. Agenda (PDF) · MyChesCo

Nothing in Chester County this weekend, so we’re heading just over the line. Oaks is a short drive up 422 and Wallingford is a quick run into Delco, and both are worth it.

East Coventry · Fricks Lock Village, 503–508 Lower Fricks Lock Rd

Frick’s Lock

Up the Schuylkill past Phoenixville, there’s a row of old stone houses where nobody has lived for decades, and the Limerick cooling towers steam right across the river. Frick’s Lock grew up as a canal stop with a 24-hour store for the boatmen. Then the canal went dry, and the nuclear plant bought out the entire village.

I care because the same rule that emptied Frick’s Lock also saved it. Federal rules keep homes out of a 2,500-foot ring around the plant, so no developer could ever touch the village. Today the 1757 farmhouse, the canal store, and the empty lock are all still standing, and East Coventry walks people through them.

Saturday Oct 24 is the last free tour of the year, at 10, 11:15, or 12:30. You don’t need to register, and it’s all outdoors. The township is very clear that the village is not open for paranormal investigations. The full story is in the longer cut.

One plant with 1,355 flowers, and the people who spent 18 months training it. Then a free pumpkin patch with a giant in the woods. Peak fall, both of them.