Bristol Municipal Park Opens, With COVID Restrictions

A municipal park that's been on the way for three years opened to the public in Bristol Township on Friday — but with restrictions in place to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The park, at 2501 Bath Rd. next to the township's municipal complex, opened for walking, running and passive recreation. The children's playground and spray park remained fenced in, though.

Both of those will be opened, with restrictions, starting on Wednesday, July 22.

When the playground and spray park open, there will be public time slots available on Monday through Friday. The slots will be 11 a.m.-1 p.m. or 3-5 p.m., with a maximum of 50 children for each slot.

Pre-registration will be required on the Bristol Township Parks and Recreation website.

Doing so was originally set to cost $5 per child, to offset the cost of extra staffers needed to enforce coronavirus-related restrictions. But, Friday afternoon, the township announced that council President Craig Bowen had volunteered to personally pay for support staff.

Township officials noted that the pre-registration and fee only will be required as long as coronavirus protections are required.

"We understand and agree this is not the vision anyone had for the opening of our beautiful new municipal park," township officials said in a social media post Thursday. "We are trying to make the best of the COVID situation while also maintaining the CDC and Bucks County Health Department regulations at this time."

An attendant at the spray park will be checking temperatures and asking health-related questions before children are allowed to enter. The spray park is scheduled to remain open through Labor Day.

Adult supervision is required at the spray park and playground and masks are required. Children won't have to wear masks once they are inside the spray park, but they may be required sometimes at the playground if it has too many children at one time.

The reservations currently are for Bristol Township residents only.

The new synthetic turf field at the park currently is available by permit only. To request a permit, you may contact jfox@bristoltownship.org.

Beginning next Wednesday, permits also will be required for natural grass fields for official sports organization use. The fields will be open for public play when not permitted to official teams.

Bathrooms at the park will be avaialable "during an allotted time," township officials said, with an attendant that will spray and disinfect after each use. They will not be open for general public use.

"We are starting small to evaluate and hope to be able to open up additional allotted hours and weekend times," township officials said. "This is all new to us as well, and we want to assure we can provide the best time possible while ensuring safety."