Draft plan for new Harcrest Park features completed
PENN TWP — The township parks and recreation committee has settled on a potential plan for new features to benefit residents who use Harcrest Park, and attract those who do not.
Doug Roth, township supervisor, said at the Tuesday, March 14, meeting that the committee considered five options for the new 17.5-acre parcel.
The five options, provided by Herbert, Rowland & Grubic engineers, were presented at the February supervisors meeting.
Roth said the committee decided on a draft plan that includes an ellipse with a walking track roughly the size of a football field, a large pavilion with a view overlooking the park, and if funds allow, a small, outdoor education center where nature classes could be conducted.
An alternative plan is very similar, with the features in slightly different locations on the parcel.
Additional features, such as tennis, pickleball and basketball courts, are slated for the future.
Sam Ward, supervisors chairman, said HRG will present a more-refined version of the draft at next month’s meeting.
If the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources approves the plan when it is finalized, supervisors also will approve it.
Roth said construction could begin next year.
Ward said the draft plan presented by Roth would be funded through a $300,000 grant from the DCNR and a matching amount from the township.
“So we want to focus on a $600,000 project, and the other projects we’ll do in the future,” he said.
He said many residents have given their input on features they would like to see at Harcrest Park.
The large park is at the intersection of Brownsdale and Three Degree roads.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, engineer Joe Gray, who is not a Penn Township resident, told supervisors he has concerns about smaller businesses not locating in the township due to the impact fee that has been in place for about 15 years.
The fee is assessed using a formula that predicts the number of trips a business’ patrons or residents of a new home will take on township roads.
Clinton Bonetti, township land use administrator, said the fee was enacted so residents would not be burdened by a tax increase to pay for roads and signal improvements caused by new homes and businesses.
Gray said smaller businesses that have used his services learn of the impact fee and say they will locate elsewhere.
Ward said the township’s share of the new $600,000 signal project at Route 8 and Airport Road came from funds raised through impact fees as well as funds from the county from shale gas development.
He said maintaining roads in the winter and repairing and paving them in the summer are significant expenses the township is able to fund through the impact fee.
