Plans to improve Richland Community Park are progressing through the development phase.
Richland administrators received a $250,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to upgrade the park and are working with an advisor from Harrisburg to continue to refine the scope of the project before it goes to bid. With the required $250,000 township match, the project will total $500,000.
Although plans are still being tweaked and fine-tuned, township officials now are zeroing in on two phases to the project, township manager Dean Bastianini said at the July 18 board of supervisors meeting.
The first phase involves replacing the playground by the baseball fields and possibly building a playground at the family recreation area.
“We realize the playground structure we have down by the baseball fields, some of it dates back to the 1980s, and even the newer parts of it are 15 years old,” Bastianini said. “Although it’s not completely worn out, the surface is extremely worn out and it’s approaching the end of its useful life.”
The new playground area near the baseball fields will have an area for children ages 5 and under, a separate area for kids ages 5 to 12 and an area for swings, all with a poured-in-place rubber surface. They also plan to create a sound garden with xylophones and drums and other instruments both children and adults can use to create music. It will be wheelchair accessible and set back into the park to minimize noise.
They also plan to install a splash pad water feature where children can play in the summer.
The second phase of the project would include putting in a restroom facility and pavilion by the dek hockey area.
Work on the project could begin in late fall or early spring 2019 and must be completed by Dec. 31, 2021. Richland learned the township had received the grant at the end of 2017. The matching funds provided by the township will not come from a tax increase.
“We’re doing so many great things, managing our money, getting some grants, getting things done right and doing it without a tax increase,” board of supervisors chairman Ray Kendrick said. “That’s the way we’ve operated for 30 years — get things done right without a tax increase.”
Karen Price is a Tribune-Review contributor.
