Councilman: Add fence around new Whites Road playground?
LANSDALE » With work now underway on long-discussed upgrades to Lansdale’s Whites Road Park, one councilman is asking if another upgrade is needed, while the town next door is finishing up some paperwork.
Upper Gwynedd has approved an easement agreement for planned park playground upgrades, while Lansdale councilman BJ Breish is looking for public feedback on adding fencing around the upgraded playground.
“As a parent, it just gives you a sense of confidence in letting your kid loose, where you know it’s fenced in, and you know you only have to look at the point of egress, as opposed to being wide open” he said.
In September council authorized a $530,000 project after several years of planning, to replace aging playground equipment with new, handicapped-accessible equipment, while making accessibility upgrades to the park entrance. New playground equipment was delivered on Sept. 24, construction started in early October on trail upgrades, and the playground itself closed in mid-October.
Breish raised the fencing question during council’s Nov. 4 meetings, asking if the rest of council felt it would be worth looking into the costs of adding fencing while the playground is a work zone.
“There’s a tree line and creek that runs through (the park). I know we don’t necessarily have any major roads they would quickly run out to, but we’re already doing work there,” he said.
“Is it worth having that conversation a little more in-depth, when we’re mobilizing at that park? It doesn’t have to be fancy, just some type of fence structure around the perimeter of that park,” Breish said.
Parks and Recreation Director Karl Lukens said the current project does not include fencing, but the only obstacle that might need investigating would be underground utility lines in the area.
“I would say it would never be too late to add the fence, whether it’s right now or ten years from now,” he said.
“It’s a playground that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend needs a fence. Stony Creek (Park) definitely needs a fence, because you have the pond right there. Typically, you only put a fence around a playground if there’s a danger nearby,” he said.
Councilwoman Mary Fuller said she did not re
“As a parent, it just gives you a sense of confidence in letting your kid loose.” — councilman BJ Breish
call any talks about including fencing during the design of the upgrades now underway, and Lukens said installing it could, at least in theory, not make the playground safer.
“It can cause more danger by having a fence, because parents are lax, or not quite as worried, as the kid is running off. But whatever the committee wants to do there, it’s certainly open for discussion,” Lukens said.
Fuller asked Lukens if he could look into possible pricing for a fence around the park, and Lukens said he would, while Breish said he’d keep in mind the balance of being careful with taxpayer dollars with providing help for parents.
Regarding the playground projec t it s el f , Lukens told the parks committee that borough public works staff have helped with utility line work and grading on the site, with tens of thousands of new plugs recently installed along the park stream banks to try to help storm
water retention there.
Since the park is technically located in Upper Gwynedd, that township’s commissioners also talked about the park on Monday night, finalizing an easement agreement the borough approved in October that shifts an existing utility easement out of an area where work will be done.
Upper Gwynedd commissioner Denise Hull summarized the project before asking for approval of the updated easement.
“They are going to include a new climbing structure, two new play areas, a sandbox, swings, asphalt paths, and a three-space handicap parking area,” Hull said.
“A nother interesting component of this playground is that it is really going to have a focus of special-needs children, so that extra access, that extra parking, will be really beneficial to kids being able to
use the park,” she said.
The playground project will also include an enhanced underground drainage system, Hull said, meant to help stormwater flow through the park.
Upper Gwynedd’s solicitor and sanitary sewer engineer have both vetted and approved the easement agreement, Hull said, and the Lansdale council approval meant the town
ship’s vote was the last one.
“This is the last step that needs to be done, in order for the construction to begin,” Hull said; the board then approved it unanimously.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Nov. 18 and the parks and recreation committee next meets at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 2; for more information visit www.Lansdale.org.