Lansdale Skate Park, Trail Grants Close to Submission

Lansdale Borough Parks and Recreation is nearing the deadline to submit two grant applications to get some funds for the development of a skate park and Liberty Bell Trail, as part of the Madison Lot Redevelopment.

Parks and Recreation Director Carl Saldutti said at Wednesday’s parks committee session that his department is working closely with Delta Development and Equus Capital Partners to put all necessary documentation together for submission of the Community Conservation Partnerships Program, or C2P2, grant application to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources by April 10.

The department will also be submitting a Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission trail grant by April 12.

This week, the parks and recreation department drafted a letter of notification of the DCNR grant application to the Lansdale Planning Commission, Montgomery County Planning Commission, and affected neighbors, said Saldutti.

Copies of that letter must be submitted with the application, he said.

“We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” he said. “We meet a lot of the criteria they are looking for.”

According to Lauren Imgrund, director of the Bureau of Recreation and Conservation under the DCNR, her bureau has funded more than 4,000 projects that have led to new parks and recreation facilities and trails, and that have conserved watersheds and critical land areas.

Trails and skate parks are considered specific priorities eligible under the grant.

Trail development projects are ones that close gaps in major statewide greenways and regionally significant, Imgrund wrote in a letter to DCNR conservation partners.

“We also seek planning projects that help communities become bicycle and pedestrian friendly, including planning for links between community recreational assets and neighborhoods,” wrote Imgrund.

Lansdale Borough will be the first municipality in Montgomery County to complete its portion of the Liberty Bell Trail. The trail is designed in the sketch plans for the Madison Lot Redevelopment. It would connect Upper Gwynedd Township near Stony Creek Park with Hatfield Township.

The Liberty Bell Trail would run out of Stony Creek Park, through the proposed Andale Green development, past the Lansdale train station to Railroad Plaza. There, the trail would continue through the Madison Redevelopment, running past the skate park and parking garage and down West Third Street into Hatfield.

Per the DCNR, a skate park is considered a priority under emerging trends in recreation.

“We seek projects that advance emerging recreation and conservation opportunities, including projects that connect youth to nature, such as natural play areas; community parks that feature gardens, particularly in urban areas; off-leash dog parks and skate parks,” wrote Imgrund.

Funding sources for the C2P2 grant come from nine funding sources: Keystone Fund-Community Recreation, Keystone Fund-Land Trust, Keystone Fund-Rails-to-Trails, Keystone Fund-Rivers Conservation, Land and Water Conservation Fund, Environmental Stewardship Fund (Growing Greener), Growing Greener Bond Fund, Pennsylvania Recreational Trails Fund and Snowmobile/ATV Fund.

Every fund but the Keystone Land Trust can be used for development projects, such as the skate park and trail.

Saldutti said the DVRPC trail grant funds development of recreational and regional trails, like the Liberty Bell Trail.

The funding, he said, is from the William Penn Foundation, at a 20 percent match.

“The Liberty Bell Trail is listed in the list of trails that are eligible,” Saldutti said. “At this point, we would apply for the stretch of trail from South Broad Street to Hatfield Township.”

Saldutti said if Lansdale is awarded both grants, then the grants could be used as matches against each other.

“Typically, if we had another state grant, we couldn’t use those as matches. If it’s a different organization, state agency or federal agency, you could use them as a match,” Saldutti said.

Councilwoman Mary Fuller, who chairs the parks committee, said any match would be put up by Equus Capital Partners, owners of the Madison Lot site and developer of the skate park and trail.

“If it is successful, that might be less money Equus has to put up,” Saldutti said. “Maybe we can talk to them for other improvements. Hopefully, the grants will work out fairly well.”

Councilman Jason Van Dame brought the Tony Hawk Foundation to the attention of the committee. He said that organization offers a $25,000 grant toward a skate park development.

Saldutti said his understanding was that the Tony Hawk Foundation likes to look at low- to moderate-income areas, where the development would have more of an impact.

Fuller said she has received tons of emails about the project, from everyone from skateboarders to designers.

“They found my home phone number!” Fuller joked. “I’ve been spending time responding to people that emailed me. It’s nice to read happy emails for once, especially when people want to be involved and are excited.”

“Most of the emails are from late teens, early 20s people,” Fuller said. “It’s pretty cool.”

Read more on this topic:

• Skate Park Funding in Proposed Budget
  
• Skaters Wanted: Skate Park Development Begins
• Lansdale Assessing Sites for Future Skate Park
• Lansdale Skate Park Development Poised for 2013
• Back to the Grind: Lansdale Parks and Rec Committee Discussing Skate Park

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