The Radnor Gazette · Vol. I, No. 13

5 Things to Watch This Week

Merrick's Tavern is open at The Brandywine; Pomelo Rooftop debuts this month. Three weeks after the boutique hotel scrambled into operation for Villanova graduation, the signature restaurant is now serving and the King of Prussia Road sub-economy is officially active.
Planning Commission opened the Chapter 280 nonconforming-uses rewrite Monday. The zoning rules that govern what owners of older commercial parcels can rebuild are now formally in front of the Commission, with the Wayne Business Overlay back on Old Business.
Lower Merion just banned gas-powered leaf blowers; Radnor is still deciding. The neighbor township's phased restrictions took effect Monday, June 1. Radnor's Environmental Advisory Council has urged commissioners to follow.
RTSD School Board Business Meeting Tuesday, June 9 at 7 p.m. The first board meeting since the $130 million budget vote, at the Municipal Building, 301 Iven Avenue.
Wayne native Matt Freese is on the USMNT World Cup roster; the U.S. opens against Paraguay June 12. The Episcopal Academy graduate and NYC FC starter made the 26-man roster. The United States plays its first group-stage match June 12 in Los Angeles; the USA-Australia match follows June 19 in Seattle.

By Gazette Staff · Sunday, June 7, 2026

The Brandywine on the Main Line, the 121-room Marriott Tribute Portfolio hotel that Brandywine Realty Trust scrambled to open in mid-May for Villanova's graduation weekend, is now operating in full daily rhythm at 165 King of Prussia Road. SAVVY Main Line's Caroline O'Halloran filed the first long-look review on June 3, confirming that Merrick's Tavern, the signature ground-floor restaurant and bar named for the first president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, has opened for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Executive Chef Michael Davies, formerly of Memphis Taproom, Cheu Fishtown, and Pumpkin, leads a streamlined American menu sourced from local farms. Entrées run from a $23 burger to a $42 Grilled Prime Flat Iron. Assistant Food and Beverage Director Erin Labar told SAVVY the property intends to draw locals through pop-up chef dinners, art shows, and book signings.

The bigger near-term move is the Pomelo Rooftop Terrace, perched five stories above Radnor and described in O'Halloran's June 3 review as the central Main Line's largest rooftop venue. Pomelo is still under construction but scheduled to debut later this month, with apothecary-driven cocktails, coastal-inspired fare, and weekend brunch.

For Radnor, the practical question this issue raised in Vol. I, No. 10 is now operative. King of Prussia Road, never a pedestrian or transit-rich corridor, is the active commercial frontage for a hotel that books out for Villanova weekends and a rooftop that will host weddings. The township has not announced a follow-up traffic study; PECO's gas-main work has the corridor partially closed Mondays through summer. The Vision for Wayne master plan, by design, looks east toward Lancaster Avenue and downtown. The King of Prussia Road sub-economy now has a center of gravity but no comparable master-plan document.

Sources: SAVVY Main Line (June 3, 2026); Brandywine Realty Trust; Radnor Township news (May 29 closure notice).

Chapter 280 is the rule that will be quoted back at the next contested teardown-and-rebuild hearing along Lancaster Avenue. See Township Action, Below

The Brandywine: The Essentials

Address: 165 King of Prussia Road, Radnor.
Property: 121 rooms, 5 stories. Marriott Tribute Portfolio.
Owner: Brandywine Realty Trust.
Signature restaurant: Merrick's Tavern. Breakfast 7 a.m. daily; bar opens 2 p.m.
Executive chef: Michael Davies (Memphis Taproom, Cheu Fishtown, Pumpkin).
Coming this month: Pomelo Rooftop Terrace, five stories up.
Reserve: via thebrandywinehotel.com.

2026 Priorities Watch

VFMA land: No change. Nothing on the next BoC agenda (June 15).
Brandywine Hotel parcel: UPDATED. Operations live. See Top Story.
118-120 N. Wayne "Restaurant Row": No change since the May 11 public-comment objection.
Vision for Wayne: Parking survey active; overlay on Planning Commission Old Business.
Nonconforming uses (Ch. 280): Opened on Planning Commission June 1. See Top Story.
Pay-by-plate parking: No change.
Leaf-blower ban: UPDATED. EAC has recommended a phaseout; no BoC draft yet. See Top Story.
Stormwater (3 projects): No change. All in design phase.
Radnor Trail east extension: No change. Still in design.
Ithan Elementary rebuild: On schedule. April 28 groundbreaking; opening 2028-29.

Open Safety Threads

Audubon Avenue tire slashings: May 28 to 30. Police seek footage. See Safety Beat.
Delmont Village Apartments vandalism: May 27 to 28. Pattern follow-up.
Cumberland Place firearm theft: No update since May 11 alert.
Lesley Road three-alarm fire: No cause ruling reported.
Cruiser-civilian crash (May 7): No charges yet.

This Week: Key Dates

Tue., June 9, 7 p.m.: RTSD School Board Business Meeting, Municipal Building.
Tue., June 9, 7 p.m.: EAC lecture with Eva Monheim, Memorial Library.
Wed., June 10, 6 p.m.: Design Review Board.
Sat., June 13: Wayne Music Festival, North Wayne Ave.
Sun., June 14, noon: Flag Day Ceremony, Radnor Middle School.
Mon., June 15, 6:30 p.m.: Board of Commissioners (corrected from June 8).

Environment · Community · Notices

Lower Merion Bans Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers; Radnor's Is Still in Proposal Phase

Top Story · Rank 3

Lower Merion's phased restrictions on gas-powered leaf blowers took effect Monday, June 1, the township's first hard line on equipment that homeowners and landscapers have used unimpeded for decades. Through October 1, gas blowers are prohibited entirely. Violations carry fines starting at $100. The full phaseout runs through January 1, 2029, at which point gas-powered leaf blowers will be banned year-round in Lower Merion. Narberth's similar timetable opens this fall.

Radnor's Environmental Advisory Council has formally proposed the same direction. At a township town hall in April, EAC Chair Dan Burnham urged the Board of Commissioners to phase out gas-powered blowers, with particular emphasis on the two-cycle engines that emit the most fine particulate. There is no draft ordinance on the BoC's docket as of this writing.

The argument Lower Merion adopted is in the ordinance text itself: gas-powered leaf blowers "create air pollution and noise pollution, contribute to climate change through the release of greenhouse gas emissions, and impair the health, social welfare, peace, and quality of life of persons residing and working in Lower Merion Township." Radnor's EAC has reached the same conclusion.

Sources: Mainline Media News (June 2, 2026); Radnor Township EAC.

EAC Lecture Tuesday: Assisted Plant Migration

Longwood arborist Eva Monheim presents at the Environmental Advisory Council's Tuesday, June 9 meeting, 7 to 8 p.m., at Radnor Memorial Library's Winsor Room. The talk addresses expanding native-plant palettes to account for climate change. Residents who want to push the gas-blower question on the EAC's agenda can attend.

Stream Restoration Planting Day, June 13

A community planting event at St. Martin's Episcopal Church runs 9 a.m. to noon. Bring family.

Wayne Native Matt Freese on the USMNT World Cup Roster

Goalkeeper Matt Freese, an Episcopal Academy graduate and NYC FC starter, was named to the 26-man United States roster on May 26; Patch's local profile ran June 1. The U.S. opens group-stage play against Paraguay on Thursday, June 12 in Los Angeles; the USA-Australia match follows in Seattle on Friday, June 19. The Township is hosting a tented outdoor watch party for the USA-Australia match on June 19 at 3 p.m., per Township Instagram.

Flag Day Ceremony Sunday, June 14 at Radnor Middle School

The Township and RTSD will jointly dedicate a custom student-made American flag at noon outside Radnor Middle School, per a June 2 township announcement. Program includes Radnor Police Honor Guard, local veterans, and an RTSD 5th-grader performing the National Anthem.

Radnor Girls Lacrosse Pushes Henderson in PIAA 3A

Radnor High's girls lacrosse team lost 13-8 to West Chester Henderson in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A tournament on Tuesday, June 3.

Wayne Music Festival Saturday, June 13

The Wayne Business Association's 11th annual Wayne Music Festival runs 1 to 10 p.m. on North Wayne Avenue, free, WXPN-sponsored. Cracker headlines; Billy Allen and the Pollies, Surfing for Daisy, Muskrat Flats, and a New Orleans brass act fill the bill.

Chanticleer: June Slate

Chanticleer's confirmed June dates: "Inside the Garden: Creative Conversations" with Tim Erdmann (June 10, 5:30 p.m.); "Once Upon a Garden Storytime" (June 13); 27th Annual Chanticleer Lecture on The Gravel Garden (June 14); "Staking Methods for the Garden" (June 24); Artist Residency workshop (June 27).

SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale: No Near-Term Changes

No new Paoli/Thorndale schedule changes are posted for June 2026 on SEPTA's PAO page. SEPTA's FY27 Annual Service Plan (approved May 28) launches Phase 1 of the bus-network redesign in August 2026. Route 105 along the Lancaster Avenue corridor gets an "improved alignment" but is not eliminated. Phase changes affecting Radnor and Wayne directly are scheduled for the February 2027 phase.

Notices to Residents

RTSD property-tax bills are dated July 1. Two percent discount through August 31; 10% penalty November 1 to February 15.
Library Summer Reading sign-ups open June 10.
July 4 fireworks return to Radnor High School on July 2; America 250 community celebration July 4 at 6 p.m.
Wayne Plein Air Exhibition on view at the Wayne Art Center through June 20.
Township USA-Australia World Cup watch party Friday, June 19 at 3 p.m. (outdoor tent).

Township Action · Development & Real Estate

Planning Commission Opens Chapter 280 Nonconforming-Uses Rewrite

Top Story · Rank 2

The Radnor Planning Commission convened Monday, June 1, with the Chapter 280 nonconforming-uses amendment formally on the agenda. The Wayne Business Overlay District Master Plan returned to Old Business the same night. The June 1 agenda packet is now archived on Granicus, but written minutes had not been posted by the township as of Saturday, June 6. The Gazette will follow up with vote tallies and any commissioner direction when the minutes appear.

What is at stake here is not a single property. The rules govern the regulatory backbone of the next decade of Lancaster Avenue: what 118-120 N. Wayne is allowed to do without a full variance hearing, how the Brandywine Hotel parcel may expand or change, what happens at sites all along Restaurant Row. A reader who skipped this paragraph last week would have been right to keep skipping; a reader who reads it this week is looking at the rule that will be quoted back at the next contested teardown-and-rebuild hearing. The next Planning Commission meeting is Monday, July 6.

Sources: Radnor Granicus agenda RSS; Vol. I, No. 12.

Brandywine + Merrick's Tavern: See Top Stories

Caroline O'Halloran's first long-look review of The Brandywine on the Main Line and Merrick's Tavern at 165 King of Prussia Road is the lead story this week. Full detail in Top Stories.

Next Board of Commissioners: June 15, Not June 8

The June 8 date previewed in Vol. I, No. 12's Coming Up table was incorrect. The township meeting calendar confirms the next BoC session is at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 15 in the Radnorshire Room. The Gazette regrets the error.

King of Prussia Road Closure Now Active Weekdays

King of Prussia Road is closed from Upper Gulph Road to Berwind Road, weekdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Miller Bros., a PECO contractor, is installing a gas main to Vetterlein Lane under a PennDOT road permit. The work hits the same corridor as The Brandywine hotel. A separate PECO project on Radnor Valley Drive runs through September. Property-access contact: Will Morris, 610-832-1000.

Parks & Recreation Board June 11 Meeting Cancelled

The township posted the cancellation June 3. The board's next meeting is now Thursday, July 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the Radnorshire Room.

Downtown Wayne Parking Survey Still Open

The public parking survey that feeds the Vision for Wayne master plan is still accepting responses; the plan landing page shows 167 logged. Residents who want their on-street and lot use to be in the data set should submit before the next Planning Commission cycle.

Fennamore Woods Stables: Renovation Plans Briefed

Radnor officials briefed Main Line Media News on plans for the township-owned 1910 stables, once part of a multi-hundred-acre estate. Detailed plans were not made public; the next public agenda mention will likely come through the Historical and Architectural Review Board, which met June 3 with the agenda packet now archived on Granicus.

333 Belrose to Reopen Mid-June After Year-Long Renovation

The longtime Radnor restaurant has confirmed a mid-June reopening after closing June 22, 2025 for a full refresh of dining, bar, kitchen, restrooms, and outdoor space. Staff training is this week; the soft open will be announced via Facebook and Instagram.

Ravenscliff Listed at $11.875 Million

The 122-year-old, 9-acre Wayne estate once owned by Campbell's Soup heiress Charlotte Dorrance is on the market through Kurfiss Sotheby's, per Vista.Today on June 4. Only the third owner in more than a century.

Schools (RTSD) · Safety Beat

RTSD Board Business Meeting Tuesday, June 9

The Radnor Township Board of School Directors meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 9 at the Municipal Building, 301 Iven Avenue. This is the first board meeting since the May 26 vote that adopted the $130 million budget and the new 16.33-mill tax rate, covered in Vol. I, No. 12. The public-comment voicemail line, 610-386-3350, remains open through noon Tuesday. The full board page is at rtsd.org/board/board.

Catch-Up: Last Committee Meeting on the Record

With no new RTSD-TV committee or board upload between May 31 and June 6, the most recent committee session on the record remains the April 14 Facilities Committee meeting. One thread from that meeting deserves a second look: the staff recommendation of SiteLogic as the Energy Service Company for an investment-grade audit of the Administration Building under Pennsylvania's Guaranteed Energy Savings Act. No capital was committed in April, but the choice front-loads the cost-transparency framework that will govern admin-building HVAC, envelope, and lighting decisions for years. The same meeting advanced a sub-$90,000 Wayne Elementary roof cut-and-patch approach after infrared scans identified wet zones, and reviewed the JD Digital Documentation pitch for biweekly 360° photography on the Ithan rebuild. Catch-up only; not fresh news.

Upper Darby Eyes 3.95% Tax Increase

Upper Darby School District is eyeing a 3.95% tax increase for 2026-27, slightly above RTSD's adopted 3.36%. A Delaware County peer-district benchmark for next year's mill comparisons.

RTSD Policy Watch

AI / cyberbullying: Adopted April 21, 2026. Policy #815. No change this week. AI in academic integrity: No standalone policy on BoardDocs; covered under the existing Academic Honor Code. Technology / Acceptable Use: In force; no June 2026 revision. PA House school-cellphone ban: State bill recently passed the House; will affect RTSD policy if enacted. See Worth Your Time Elsewhere. Ithan Elementary rebuild: Construction began April 6; groundbreaking April 28; opening 2028-29.

RTSD Board of School Directors

Per the district board page: President Liz Duffy; Vice President Susan Stern; Sarah Dunn, Esq., Clare Girton, Jannie Lau, Thomas Le, Lon Rosenblum, Lydia T. Solomon, and DJ Thornton. Superintendent: Dr. Kenneth Batchelor (non-voting).

Tire Slashings on Audubon Avenue Follow Delmont Village by a Week

Radnor Township Police are asking for surveillance footage after two vehicles parked on Audubon Avenue had two tires each slashed sometime between Wednesday, May 28 and Saturday, May 30, per a department alert posted June 1. The Audubon incident follows the overnight vandalism of several vehicles at the Delmont Village Apartments at 421 Morris Road between May 27 and 28. With both incidents falling within four days, residents in the Garrett Hill and St. David's neighborhoods should expect a Patrol Division push on community-camera footage requests. Tip line via the township police page.

Otherwise, a Quiet Beat

No new headline crashes, fires, hazmat events, or arrests involving Radnor, Wayne, or St. David's appeared on Patch's crime and safety feed, FOX 29, NBC10, or the Delco Times for the May 31 to June 6 window.

Adjacent-Township: 4 Arrested at Haverford DUI Checkpoint

The Delaware County DUI Task Force made four arrests at a Haverford checkpoint Sunday, June 1. The task force is up to 191 arrests year to date. Not Radnor, but the same enforcement umbrella.

Coming Up

Date	Event	Details
Tue., June 9	RTSD School Board Business Meeting	7 p.m., 301 Iven Ave. First meeting since the May 26 budget vote.
Tue., June 9	EAC Lecture: Assisted Plant Migration	7 to 8 p.m., Radnor Memorial Library Winsor Room. Eva Monheim, Longwood.
Wed., June 10	Design Review Board	6 p.m., Radnorshire Room.
Wed., June 10	Library Summer Reading sign-ups open	Radnor Memorial Library. Runs through August 16.
Wed., June 10	Inside the Garden w/ Tim Erdmann	5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Chanticleer.
Thu., June 11	Parks & Recreation Board CANCELLED	Next P&R meeting: July 9.
Thu., June 12	U.S. opens FIFA World Cup play vs. Paraguay	Matt Freese (Wayne native) on the U.S. roster. Los Angeles.
Sat., June 13	Wayne Music Festival	1 to 10 p.m., N. Wayne Ave. Free. waynemusicfestival.com.
Sat., June 13	Stream Restoration Planting Day	9 a.m. to noon, St. Martin's Episcopal Church.
Sun., June 14	Flag Day Ceremony	Noon, Radnor Middle School.
Sun., June 14	27th Annual Chanticleer Lecture: The Gravel Garden	Chanticleer Garden.
Mon., June 15	Board of Commissioners	6:30 p.m., Radnorshire Room. Corrected from June 8.
Tue., June 16	Board of Health	5:30 p.m., Radnorshire Room.
Wed., June 17	Environmental Advisory Council	6 p.m., Radnorshire Room.
Thu., June 18	Zoning Hearing Board	7 p.m., Radnorshire Room.
Thu., June 18	WBA June Member Meeting	5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Women's Resource Center.
Fri., June 19	Township USA-Australia World Cup Watch Party	3 p.m., outdoor tent. Per Township Instagram.
Through June 20	Wayne Plein Air Exhibition (18th annual)	Wayne Art Center, 413 Maplewood Ave.
Thu., July 2	Township Independence Day Fireworks	Radnor High School.
Sat., July 4	America 250 Community Celebration	6 p.m., Radnor High School.
Mon., July 6	Planning Commission	7 p.m., Radnorshire Room. Next Ch. 280 session.
Thu., July 9	Parks & Recreation Board	6:30 p.m., Radnorshire Room. Rescheduled from June 11.

Worth Your Time Elsewhere

Spotlight PA: Inside Shapiro's data-center tax-incentive plan and the budget fight it landed in. The $20 billion Amazon Pennsylvania data-center investment plus a sales-tax exemption on equipment is the statewide policy frame Radnor commissioners will face if any sentinel-parcel proposal pivots to a hyperscaler. The same plan is the principal driver of Mid-Atlantic electricity-price pressure that will land on PECO bills.
PA Capital-Star: Sen. Katie Muth introduces bill to prevent data centers from being classified as public utilities. The bill preserves municipal zoning authority over data-center proposals; without it, Radnor commissioners would lose the leverage they have today to refuse, condition, or shape any large-parcel data-center pitch.
PA Capital-Star: PA House passes school-cellphone ban on a 126-75 vote. If the bill becomes law, RTSD would have to align its existing acceptable-use policy with a statewide mandate. The Policy Committee may want to begin a parallel draft now.
Spotlight PA: Penn researchers publish mail-ballot notice-and-cure study. The study finds notifying voters of mail-ballot errors substantially reduces rejections. Delaware County's 2024 cure posture sets the local baseline heading into the November 2026 cycle, and the county Election Board's discretion here matters more than most residents realize.
SAVVY Main Line: Caroline O'Halloran on Merrick's Tavern at The Brandywine. The first long-look review of the King of Prussia Road hotel-and-tavern complex; the canonical local source on the property.

· · · · ·

Hot Take · Editorial

Lower Merion Drew Its Line on Leaf Blowers. Radnor's Turn Is Coming.

Lower Merion's gas-powered leaf-blower restrictions took effect Monday, June 1, and the township's three-year phaseout will be complete by January 1, 2029. The argument the township put in its ordinance language is the same one Radnor's Environmental Advisory Council has been making for over a year: gas blowers create air and noise pollution, contribute to climate-change emissions, and impair quality of life in a way that falls disproportionately on the people closest to the equipment, including landscape workers, children, and residents with respiratory conditions. Narberth has signed on to the same logic.

EAC Chair Dan Burnham was on the record at a Radnor town hall in April urging the Board of Commissioners to phase out gas blowers, with particular emphasis on two-cycle engines. There is, as of this writing, no draft ordinance on the BoC's June 15 agenda. That is the question this editorial is asking commissioners to consider: at what point does the policy gap between Radnor and its immediate neighbors become harder to defend?

The honest counterargument is logistical. Radnor's residential parcels skew larger than Lower Merion's, the spring leaf load is heavier in pockets, and commercial landscape contractors are not stocked for an all-battery transition. A serious phaseout would have to come with a multi-year glide path and would have to give contractors time to amortize the existing equipment. Lower Merion built that glide path into the ordinance itself: gas blowers banned May through October in 2027, January through October in 2028, year-round only in 2029. Narberth's track mirrors it.

The other honest counterargument is enforcement. A $100 first-offense fine is meaningful only if there is a complaint and a response. Lower Merion will learn this summer how it actually performs in the field. Radnor would learn the same lesson on the same calendar if it began drafting now.

For a township that has spent the spring debating Vision for Wayne, the Chapter 280 nonconforming-uses amendment, and pay-by-plate parking, the gas-blower question is a smaller and more decideable one. It is also the kind of policy that a residential community can act on without waiting for Harrisburg. Lower Merion did, and the bill it adopted in November 2025 had been in discussion since the early 2000s. Radnor's EAC has already done the work the BoC needs to draft the ordinance. The question is whether the Board uses the summer to move it or lets it sit through another fall.

Residents who want this on the next BoC agenda should write their commissioner before June 15. Residents who want to learn the science first should attend the EAC's Eva Monheim lecture on Tuesday, June 9 at Radnor Memorial Library.

If You Can Do One Thing This Week

Email your commissioner about gas-powered leaf blowers before the June 15 Board of Commissioners meeting. Radnor's EAC has recommended a phaseout; Lower Merion has just adopted one. The commissioners' contact page is at radnor.com/government/board-of-commissioners. One paragraph from a resident is what gets an ordinance drafted.

· · ·

The Radnor Gazette · A digest for residents of Wayne, St. David's, and Radnor Township.

Research conducted June 7, 2026, covering the news window of May 31 to June 6, 2026. Sources this week include SAVVY Main Line (savvymainline.com), Main Line Media News (mainlinemedianews.com), the Delco Times (delcotimes.com), Radnor Patch (patch.com/pennsylvania/radnor), the Radnor Township School District (rtsd.org), Radnor Granicus (radnor.granicus.com), Radnor Township (radnor.com), the Philadelphia Inquirer (inquirer.com), Vista.Today (vista.today), Citizen Portal AI (citizenportal.ai), Spotlight PA (spotlightpa.org), PA Capital-Star (penncapital-star.com), the Suburban Realtors Alliance (suburbanrealtorsalliance.com), SEPTA (septa.org), Chanticleer Garden (chanticleergarden.org), the Wayne Business Association (waynebusiness.com), Wayne Music Festival (waynemusicfestival.com), and RTSD-TV (youtube.com). News items are sourced as noted inline. Corrections welcome.

Fin