Credit: Whitpain Township.
At the recent Whitpain Township Board of Commissioners meeting, consultants from Phillips & Donovan Architects gave an update on the construction of the new community center.
A brief recap was offered and detailed renderings of the community center were discussed and shown.
At a meeting on Feb. 20, the Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to build a community center in Centre Square Park, replacing the existing dog park. This site was chosen over Mermaid Lake Park after consultants determined that developing the Mermaid Lake location would require allocating about 10% of the project’s budget to road and traffic improvements on Arch and Jolly roads, including widening a portion of Arch Road.
In May 2024, the Board reviewed three options related to concept plans
Ultimately, Whitpain Township chose Option 1 for full design and detailed cost analysis while pursuing additional grants/resources to fully fund and/or enhance the future community center.
The initial cost estimate for the selected option came in at nearly $12.3 million. Based on the initial cost estimate the Township is not planning to proceed with a 2-story addition to the community rooms and fitness center absent significant additional funding.
The community center will be located at the site of the current dog park. However, before construction begins, a new dog park will be opened at Mermaid Park. Township crews are currently working on the new dog park site as planning for the community center continues.
Public Works staff has been working on the relocation of existing dog park to its future home along Arch Street Road across from Mermaid. Staff forecasts roughly $80,000 in costs (mainly the purchase and installation of new fencing) related to the relocation of the dog park.
The relocation of the dog park will be completed sometime this summer with external/vendor costs to be paid from the Community Center Fund, according to the Towship.
Township staff, in concert with the Community Center Committee, have been working with architects and consultants to make design choices to further the project, which include design aspects, environmental choices, shade trees, and future phases of construction.
Design choices: Selected layout, furniture, flooring and other design choices to be both aesthetically pleasing and cost effective. These will be incorporated in the final construction documents;
Environmental choices: No natural gas at the building, make use of natural light, no paper towels in rest rooms;
Shade trees: Stormwater management area is planned in a location where tree health is compromised, and additional plantings are planned on site;
Future phases: Where feasible and not cost prohibitive, planning for future phase such as stormwater capacity and parking lot size/layout.
Design and construction documents for the community center are in progress. According to Whitpain Township officials, the construction documents are approximately 75% complete at this point.
Construction Plan/Timeline
