Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
PARK TO BE CREATED AT HERSHEY’S MILL DAM
Dam will be breached to create small pond and 6-acre park
EAST GOSHEN » Township supervisors have voted unanimously to breach the historic Hershey’s Mill Dam, thus creating a smaller pond and 6-acre park.
The new township park will be located on township property, at the former site of a sixacre dammed pond.
No water currently flows over the dam, and the pond has been drained.
The park will feature stepping stone stream crossings, a series of small waterfalls, an overlook, fishing area and a four-spot parking area, with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-accessible trails connecting to an existing trail network that will be fully accessible to all residents.
The project will also include a riparian buffer along the pond’s edge and low meadow plantings, including sedge and milkweed.
Phase I of the project will include dam removal, creation of stream step pools, site grading to create an island and embankment and construction of the pond that will measure
about one-seventh of an acre, or about the size of a tennis court.
The parking lot will be built, trails will be constructed of mulch, meadows established and shrub plantings and forest restoration will be part of Phase II.
Construction is expected to proceed in two phases, but everything might be completed in a single phase.
Consultant Peter Simone, of Simone Collins Landscaping and Architecture, said that the planned park, to be located across Greenhill Road from the main entrance gate at Hershey’s Mill, will “look more natural,” with meadow plantings attracting pollinators and birds to the site.
The park improvements are expected to cost about $240,000, with an additional cost into the hundreds of thousands of dollars to breach the brown stone dam.
The township seeks state and federal grants.
Simone said that the waterfalls will be pretty in a storm.
In the past, Greenhill Road has been temporarily closed due to flooding.
“When we get a storm
event we’ll determine how that flow might increase so we get the maximum dramatic effect in the waterfall,” Simone said.
The township was required to either replace the dam or build to new state standards as required by the Department of Environmental Protection in 2006.
Supervisors also recently decided to not save the full dam on a larger 19-acre pond in Milltown on Reservoir Road. That structure will become a low hazard dam.
Costs for upkeep for both projects will be cheaper, with “insurance issues” eliminated, Supervisor Marty Shane said.
“What we have planned is going to be a great opportunity for the township to have two nice parks,” Shane said. “I believe that in both cases what we’re doing is the right thing for both the long term and short term.”
Simone said state regulations call for improving water quality. Every five to seven years the silt would need to be removed from the pond, Simone said.
“One of the biggest pollutants is sediment,” he said. “We’re trying to capture it before it gets to the waterfall.”
Wayne Hall led a citizen’s committee that studied the issue. He said the committee surveyed residents to find out what they
“What we have planned is going to be a great opportunity for the township to have two nice parks.” — East Goshen Supervisor Marty Shane
wanted.
Hall said the new park will become an “attractive” area for children and families to walk through and will become a “quiet place.”
Resident Neil DeRiemer was opposed to the breach, but regardless he said he didn’t lose the fight, because the park will become a nice spot to visit. DeRiemer was concerned about the price tag and said his plan to improve the dam would have cut the cost in half.
Resident Erich Meyer said he’s been attending township meetings for seven years and the dam has been a regular topic of discussion.
“It’s a good outcome for all the residents and they’ve done a lot of good design work,” Meyer said.
Tentative Phase I construction is scheduled for spring/summer 2018. Completion of the project is projected for the summer/fall of 2019.