Forks Master Park Plan Committee Discusses Park Property

The Forks Township Master Park Plan Committee is one step closer to finalizing proposed plans for the 42-acre parcel.

Committee members met Wednesday to work out proposed plans for the park before they are presented to the Board of Supervisors. The committee also heard the chairman of the township planning commission and some residents express concern over such proposals as a walking trail, skate park, noise and potential geese problems.

If approved, funding for the project would come via a grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The grant, township officials say, would only pay for half of the project. The remaining funds would come from the municipality.  

Township officials are hoping to have plans for the project complete in time to meet the grant submission deadline of April 15.

Plans for the park, located on Newlins and Richmond roads, include a skate park, ice skate rink, tennis courts, gazebo, pond, bike path, walking trail, picnic grove, grass maze, baseball field, boardwalk, community gardens, marketplace, hockey rink and amphitheater. There are also more than 200 parking spaces.

The project could be done in several phases, and officials say the plans are simply conceptual and can be changed throughout the process. The next meeting has been set for 7pm on March 16.

Once the committee finalizes the plans, they will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for approval. The plans would then be submitted for the state grant.

Vito Tamborrino, the planning commission chairman, presented concerns the commission has with the plans.

Tamborrino said the commission recommends that the proposed walking trail not be paved but instead made of gravel. There is also concern over a proposed boulder garden. "Perhaps it should be an open field as much as possible?” he said.

Tamborrino also said the commission did not like the idea of a skate park. He said there was some concern that after sunset, skaters still would be at the park. 

The park will likely be open from sunup to sundown.

Some residents who live in the area also expressed concern over noise and lights at the proposed playing fields and potential geese problems at the proposed pond. Those concerns will be addressed, according to Martin Kimmel, principal for Kimmel Bogrette Architecture, the design firm for the project.

Playing fields will not be lit and any potential geese problems will be addressed ahead of time, Kimmel added.

Supervisor Robert Egolf said, on behalf of Supervisor David Billings, there was concern that the garden area may be too large. Egolf also said a veterans memorial of some sort should be placed on the parcel.