Neshaminy State Park Needs $4.2 Million In Fixes, Advocates Say

BENSALEM, PA — At Neshaminy State Park in Bensalem, there are the needs you can see. There's the pavilion, one of three at the park, that's blocked off with yellow caution tape because its aging structure has been deemed unsafe for public use.

There are the bathrooms, built in the 1970's, that are in rough shape and so insufficient for visitors' needs that park officials have to rent portable potties on their busy days. There is the park office, which is actually two smaller buildings moved in from other parks and patched together to create a usable space.

But there are also the needs most of park's visitors never see, like the 50-year-old terra cotta sewer pipes or the aging filter tanks that keep the park's wildly popular swimming pool safe to use.

The park needs roughly $4.2 million in infrastructure work, according to a study earlier this year by the nonprofit Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation.

According to the foundation, the 339-acre park along the Delaware River draws an average of 861,545 visitors every year — supporting 147 jobs in the local economy and driving $15 million worth of economic impact.

That, they say, is a main reason why Neshaminy, like other parks, deserves support.

"Not investing in Neshaminy State Park would be the equivalent of shutting down a factory," said Marci Mowery, president of the foundation, which works to support the state's parks.

On Monday, Mowery and officials from the park led staffers from the offices of two state lawmakers on a tour of the park to showcase its needs.

Park Manager Brian Heath said that, for the past few years, Neshaminy State Park has actually seen more like 1 million visitors every year. That's put a strain on resources, he said.

"Trying to serve that public out of a building like this is a challenge," said Heath, motioning toward the patched-together office that is, itself, decades old.

According to Mowery, Neshaminy State Park's needs reflect the needs of Pennsylvania's state parks and forests as a whole. In all, her group's report said, $1 billion is needed for the Bureau of State Parks and Bureau of Forestry to properly maintain parks and forests and do needed infrastructure work.

According to the report, 56% of Pennsylvania residents participate in outdoor recreation each year. It generates $29.1 billion in consumer spending and directly supports 251,000 jobs in the commonwealth.

The state's parks and forests contribute to residents' physical and mental health, protect and preserve significant historic locations and contribute heavily to environmental protection for Pennsylvania's woodlands and waterways, advocates say.

At Neshaminy, Heath said the single most pressing need is improvements at the park's popular swimming pool, which can attract thousands of visitors on summer days. The pool itself was built in the '70s and is starting to deteriorate, he said. Its filter tanks are more than two decades old and also need work, he said.

Aging and insufficient bathroom facilities also are badly in need of an upgrade, Heath said. In addition to being unpleasant to use, the bathroom facilities aren't nearly enough to serve the number of visitors the park gets and, on busy day, staffers have to rent portables, he said.

On Monday, staffers from the offices of state Rep. Gene DiGirolamo (R-Bensalem) and Rep. Tina Davis (D-Levittown) got a tour of Neshaminy. Advocates hope their bosses, and their fellow lawmakers, will see the benefits the park provides — and keep them in mind when budget time rolls around.