Completed in 2023

Hatboro Borough purchased the Pennypack Elementary School for a community park and in the spring of 2023, the MCPC started working with the Pennypack Park Committee to address the divergent needs and goals of the borough for this park. These included soccer fields for a local youth organization, a traffic garden, pedestrian connections to the neighborhood, and a plan for integrating riparian buffers, meadows, and future potential stormwater management facilities. Over the course of the next 18 months, community surveys were completed with results tallied and analyzed, a public open house was held in November of 2023, an opportunities and constraints versus needs matrix was completed, and concept plans were developed.

The first challenge was that much the site in within the 100-year floodplain of the Pennypack Creek. Other challenges included working around the existing school structure, paved areas, and poorly designed parking lot, along with addressing the diverse identified needs and goals of the borough. Committee members were very passionate about the community and environmental goals, however, these had the potential to lead to vastly different design outcomes. The MCPC team members worked with the committee to create a design solution that combines these diverse needs into a plan with a phased approach.

The final design concept, adopted by Hatboro Borough Council in the fall of 2024, includes a traffic garden, organized play areas, an outdoor classroom, a new green parking lot, and soccer fields. Wet meadows and naturalized stormwater management areas, mown and ADA compliant trails, and community gathering spaces are also proposed as part of the final design, all of which respects the Pennypack Creek, existing riparian buffers, and DCNR meadow. This project was a true testament to contextual design fulfilling community goals.

Team Members:

Hatboro Borough
Pattie Guttenplan, RLA, AICP
Erin Feehily, PLA
Barry Jeffries, ASLA
Kevin Chavous, AICP CUD, ASLA, LEED AP
Eric Jarrell
John Miklos
Robert Cartier

Website: https://myhatboro.org/wp-content/uploads/Pennypack-Park-Borough-Council-8-19-2024-1.pdf