82% of Lower Merion Residents Use Parks, Survey Finds

At Wednesday evening's meeting of the Lower Merion Township Parks and Recreation Department, discussion centered on proposals for the department’s new master plan, now in the process of being drafted. It will go before the Board of Commissioners in July. About 20 residents were in attendance.  

This was the second public meeting to discuss proposals for an update to the plan, which was last updated 15 years ago, Commissioner Scott Zelov said. 

“Our Parks and Recreation Plan is our road map that guides how we improve” our programs, Zelov said. “We already have a remarkable Parks and Recreation Program, but we want to make it even better.”

Ann Toole, of  Toole Recreation Planning—which the township contracted to complete the plan update—conducted public opinion surveys and township focus groups to discern where the Parks department is doing well and how it can be improved. 

 “Our focus is taking a very, very good system and making it into a very, very great system, and our plan is totally rooted in public participation,” Toole said.

According to the survey results cited by Toole, three out of four people in Lower Merion Township rate the parks and recreation system from good to excellent. Residents’ survey responses indicated a need for more sports fields, the fixing up of tired parks, and environmental concerns, Toole said. 

Survey results also indicated that residents felt the township was doing well in its programs and services for youth, and that now the focus should be on services for adults and families, with particular emphasis placed on themes like nature, fitness and wellness. 

“We’re hearing things repeatedly from the residents,” Toole said. “You want more paths, more walking opportunities, places to sit and socialize.”

The plan will also address these resident suggestions:

• Leftover space beside sports fields will be looked at more creatively.
• More dynamic playgrounds will be considered, like the one at Ashbridge in Rosemont.
• More natural elements—such as more shade trees and flowers that provide bursts of color—will be brought incorporated.

“We’re using your input to help us decide how this draft will be fleshed out,” Toole said.

Environmental, space considerations

Another focus of the plan will be environmental, planner Ann Yost said. Shortridge Park in Wynnewood, for example, has undergone the first phase of stream bank stabilization, which is a way to address storm water on a park-wide basis, Yost said. The department will consider ways to address environmental concerns in other township parks.

The township will also consider where community hubs have developed over the past 15 years, and how parks can better address the needs of residents concentrated in those communities where facilities are often overused, planner Sean Garrigan said.

“If you look specifically at Vernon Young Park, it’s completed cramped," Garrigan commented. "You can’t move because there’s so many facilities there, and the facilities are heavily used—the pool gets so packed that you literally can’t swim.

“I think a recommendation to consider ... 'What things make sense in that building, and what could be relocated or changed, so the park wouldn’t be so cramped and could function better?'” The master plan should tie the indoor and outdoor aspects of park facilities together, Garrigan said. 

Toole agreed. “People would like to go and spend a whole day at Vernon Young Park, but after a certain time of day, you can’t get a spot,” she said. “It’s too busy.”

Overall, the township is looking for opportunities to reconfigure the parks and think creatively about how to rework the park space already in use, Toole said. 

The intention is for the draft to be done by the end of May, when it will be reviewed by department staff. It will go to the Board of Commissioners for review in July, after which the public will have 30 days to comment.

Toole said 82 percent of residents who responded to the survey said they use township parks. “That is by far the highest we’ve ever gotten on a survey,” Toole said. “It really underscores the importance that parks have in this community.”