Credit: Upper Dublin Township presentation screenshot.
Upper Dublin Township Parks and Recreation Director Derek Dureka updated commissioners Tuesday on progress
Upper Dublin Township’s newest park has moved into the second phase of its development process, and a bike playground will soon come to fruition at Twining Valley Park on Twining Road in Dresher.
Township Parks and Recreation Director Derek Dureka updated Commissioners Tuesday night on the progress of Phases 1A & 1B at the park, dedicated Dec. 1, 2019.
He also talked on the implementation of site naturalization, and current and future events and projects at the park, including possible pickleball courts, social areas, a have-small-wheels-will-ride pumptrack, and a playground space like Lion’s Pride Park in Horsham Township.
Phase 1A included construction of a dog park and five miles of hard surface and dirt trail: Three miles of paved asphalt and two miles of “bike optimized single track,” which Dureka said is appropriate for hiking.
The work was completed with a $853,603 grant award, he said.
“I was (at the park) on Saturday doing a program, and it was busy and it is continuing to become busier and busier,” he said.
Trails are mostly open and about 95% complete, except for some punch list items, he said. All stormwater management work is complete on the site, he said.
“We built the dog park and a parking lot, and that serves the park connected by the tunnel. We did add about 200 spaces in total to the site,” Dureka said. “If you are looking at the building from Twining Road to the right, all that stone area (is parking). Some of that might become program space or amenity space in time.”
The $853,603 grant award included $330,000 in grant monies from Montgomery County’s American Rescue Plan Act.
“We were able to be a recipient of that and it went specifically to stormwater management,” he said.
Dureka said there are new wayfinding signs in the park, as well as QR codes posted for parkgoers to find a digital trail map.
“The outer loop is 1.85 miles paved,” Dureka said. “There is a connection through the tunnel as well. There is a connector from Susquehanna Road and that is paved.”
Phase 1, he said, also included establishment of a native plant demo garden, which provides food sources for birds and other mammals year-round.
“Cindy Nuss, a resident of ours and leader of the Bird Town group, secured a grant through the Hardy Plant Society and Women’s National Farm & Garden Association,” Dureka said.
Hardy Plant Society/Mid-Atlantic is a nonprofit volunteer organization of gardeners who promote horticulture through events and education, according to its website. The Women’s National Farm & Garden Association is another nonprofit whose mission is education of agriculture and horticulture, according to its website.
Dureka said a $6,000 PECO Green Regions grant funded an accessible, fully pervious, rubber and stone pathway, installed by the township Parks and Recreation Department.
Twining Valley Park, he said, hosts numerous popular events, such as the Twining Valley Cross Classic cyclocross race, the 5K Upper Dublin Rush Hour Run, a regional youth bike event, and a mountain biking team.
Dureka said the cyclocross classic gets about 200 to 300 participants, including spectators.
“I am hoping to put in a bid to host the national cyclocross event through USA Cycling. That would hopefully be in 2026-27,” he said. “It would be a two-year agreement and I am working with Valley Forge Sports to put that together. So we’d have county and state to host that here.”
The Rush Hour Run occurs in June, he said, and will be called the “Twining Valley Twilight” this year.
The regional youth bike event, he said, is called “Local Dirt,” and is held by the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League, or PICL.
“We hosted teens from all over the region. It is something that they paid to be on the site, and they will continue to do that,” Dureka said.
SoMont Cycling Youth Mountain Bike Team (MBT) serves Upper Dublin and Cheltenham townships, and Wissahickon and Abington school districts, he said. They are made up of middle and high schoolers, but are not affiliated with the school district, he said.
As far as site naturalization, Dureka said it is in its early stages, but the intention is to create habitats and minimize park maintenance needs. According to Dureka, this is achieved through consolidation of recreation amenities, implementation of naturalization opportunities, and development of a naturalization plan. At present Dureka said numerous individuals and organizations have dedicated time to taking care of the trees in the park.
“Nuss has her own group that takes care of the garden,” Dureka said.
In addition to volunteer assistance, the site naturalization effort also gets funding assistance. Dureka said a $105,000 DCNR TreeVitalize grant was secured for planting and site management at Twining Valley Park and Susquehanna Woods. Grant-related work will begin Fall 2024, he said.
“(Susquehanna Woods) is a property between Chelten Church and Candlebrook Drive. That’s a six-acre property that we’re basically going to be starting over because of the amount of invasives that have taken over, preserve what we can and Twining will be getting several hundred trees planted as well,” Dureka said.
Parks and Recreation, he said, is working with township Natural Resource Manager Colleen Kelly on creating a naturalization plan and building it out.
“Going toward Susquehanna Road, that is mostly going to become forest,” Dureka said, “and on the right hand side, that would become meadows … what we are seeing is, more trees are coming up (by Susquehanna Road) and nature is telling us what to do there and we are not fighting it.”
Phase 2 of the project is fully funded by three grants totaling $489,100, he said, and construction is expected to begin in Fall 2024. This phase includes construction of a bike playground targeting 5th grade and younger, he said.
“Bikes, scooters, Big Wheels, wheelchairs, skateboards – all acceptable,” Dureka said. “Kids can just walk around it as well.”
Furthermore, the bike playground will have “many manufactured pieces representing ecosystems and then planting native plants to represent them,” he said. “It will be a great place to teach kids how to ride a bike or get comfortable on a scooter.”
Phase 2B – the five pickleball courts, exterior fencing, windshields, and benches phase – is already funded 50% through a state DCNR grant for $105,000, Dureka said, and the township puts up the other half. The township was unsuccessful in securing a Montgomery Count grant to match the project.
“Assuming we get some additional funding, or the Board wants to support it a different way, it is estimated to cost $210,000,” said Dureka, adding bidding is being done via COSTARS at “state bid pricing.”
He said two $105,000 grant applications were requested from Montco 2040 and from the DCED GRT grant program.
Dureka showed the Board future phases planned for the park. Phase 2C is a new pavilion and restrooms project, for instance. He said there are opportunities for possible grant applications in 2025.
According to Dureka, until restrooms are completed, a port-a-pot is available 24/7 and building restrooms are available 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
“That is the next logical step for the site,” he said. “It will provide us with some additional pavilion rental space. (Both pavilions) are getting booked at a pretty good pace.”
The township has submitted two grants for funding of an all-ages pumptrack. Dureka said it is an asphalt surface that is open to bikes, skateboards, scooters, roller blades and more.
“It’s not BMX, so there’s no jumps,” he said of the pumptrack. “There’s more flow, and you use your own momentum and weight to get through that. That truly is multigenerational.”
This phase also includes community connections to Sunny Willow Swim Club, Ayr Lane, and the Dresherbrooke townhome community, he said.
“(The pumptrack) will be part of a Graduated Bike Park, and we want to create a welcome plaza,” he said. “We also want an official access point to the trail system.”
Phases 3A & 3B include construction of a playscape and natural play area like Lion’s Pride Park and construction of a fitness area and social areas, Dureka said.
Board Vice President Meredith L. Ferleger said the plans for the former clubhouse at the park were very different when they first started talking about Twining Valley Park.
At present, the clubhouse is being used by parks and recreation as supplemental space.
“We could have never anticipated a tornado,” she said. “Are there any future plans for the building, whether it be leased or continue to be used by the township? Will it depend on how much use you’re contingent to have once you are not in the clubhouse fulltime?”
Dureka said get the township building built first, then revisit it to see what space is available at the library once that renovation happens.
“Then we reassess what the needs are of the community and of the department, and really how the park is being used and how the Commissioners and residents want to see the park used in the future,” he said. “The building needs some shining up, but it would make sense to do a professional assessment with an architect to look at the building and look at the community needs at that point in time.”
Township Manager Kurt Ferguson said the board would have to look at both properties and answer what is the return on investigating those existing properties versus other options.
Commissioner Harm Scherpbier asked if food trucks in the park is something that the department would consider in the future.
“We’re not interested in running a concession stand. It’s something we can look at doing. In some communities, it’s a free-for-all,” Dureka said. “We’d have to make a decision of what we would want there. We do food trucks for some events we run there.”
Dureka said there may even be opportunities for a restaurant or sandwich shop to open in the park.
“We’re open to those conversations,” he said.
Almost three years after Hurricane Ida sent an EF-2 tornado barreling through Fort Washington with 130 mph winds, destroying everything in its path, Upper Dublin Township administration and Commissioners are slowly ensuring there is no place like home.
After the devastation of Sept. 1, 2021, Upper Dublin Township was left without, among other things, a roof on its administration building on Loch Alsh Avenue in Fort Washington and a damaged Public Works headquarters.
Since the tornado, Commissioners have been meeting at Upper Dublin Public Library.
Commissioners President Ira S. Tackel said the Board, at a Jan. 24 special meeting, awarded bids for the reconstruction and redesign of the township building.
“The reason I mention it,” he said, “is, in the last three weeks, you can really see the fruits of that labor and that whole process is truly beginning. The building is gone, the foundation is gone as well.”
“This process is rolling ahead and it is on budget. It is on schedule,” he said. “It is very early, but the anticipated completion date is and continues to be December 2025. That process is ongoing and you’re going to see a lot of activity on that site in the next 8, 10, 12 months.”
Ferguson added that 75% of salvageable material from the township buildings was recycled.
Read more on the Twining Valley Park development here.
