A sign at the entrance to Fischer’s Park in Towamencin indicates the routes of trails running through the park, as seen on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
First came the emailed comments, followed by several more in person, all on the same topic.
But for once, the topic wasn’t Towamencin’s long-discussed sewer sale, but a fresh one — a proposal to add pickleball courts to the township’s Fischer’s Park.
"I am not against pickleball. I am against pickleball in Fischer’s Park,” said resident Tim Gallagher.
"Do the current supervisors want to leave a legacy that they are the ones that ruined the only beautiful passive park that we have in the township?” he said.
Located off of Kriebel Road, Fischer’s Park is 77 acres of woodlands, lawns and trails in a park featuring five pavilions, two playgrounds, bocce courts, a fishing pier, and the Arneth Entertainment Center, named for a longtime resident who bequeathed a fund that goes toward upgrades for the park.
In 2021 the township adopted a new parks master plan spelling out possible upgrades there and throughout the township, and parts of the park have been used as farmland, a resident discussed holding a daylong multicultural festival there in 2021 into ’22, a resident added an ‘Insect Hotel’ to the park in early 2023, while later that year the North Penn YMCA secured approval to hold a summer camp there later this year.
Last summer the board awarded a contract to update the township’s comprehensive plan, and an open space committee meeting on Jan. 15, followed by a public input meeting hosted by the township on Jan. 18 drew plenty of feedback, on social media and in person to the supervisors.
The issue: a proposal to add pickleball courts, expanded parking, and a new pavilion at Fischer’s, attached to and adjacent to the parking lots there now.
"This was a concept plan. It was there for the committee to discuss. It’s not set in stone,” said open space committee chairman Joe Meehan.
Pickleball or Passive Space?
Resident Ron Hugick said that he’s been to many parks in the area and enjoyed their quite and passive nature, and has seen an overgrown baseball field at Fischer’s, where the parking is now proposed, used for other sports like Frisbee, and less-organized activities like sledding, and asked if the supervisors wanted to make Fischer’s into a park dedicated to a sport, like others elsewhere in the township.
"We may just end up with another single sport at one park, like soccer at Grist Mill and baseball at Butch Clemens. Is this connect-the-dot, single-sport park approach best?” he said. "Towamencin can have the best of both worlds: maintaining a passive park like Fischer’s, and making other parks multi-sports.”
Jackie Swanson said she had heard of the proposal online, and asked if it fits with prior park plans.
"I thought that Fischer’s Park was designated to be a primarily passive recreation park. This was stated in the Fischer’s Park master plan, dated May 2010, that can be found online,” she said.
"That says that it has recreational activities that do not require prepared facilities like sports fields or pavilions. I don’t think there is anything more prepared than paved pickleball courts,” Swanson said.
Swanson then added that she recalled discussions years ago about upgrading the ballfield at Fischer’s to host tournaments there, and that those plans did not proceed because the park was meant to stay passive: "I would be in favor of sticking to the original intent of this beautiful, natural open space,” she said.
‘A Quiet Park’
Rebecca Curlett asked that the board survey all township residents before moving forward with any plans for pickleball courts there, and said she hasn’t spoken to anybody in favor of adding it.
"We want Fischer’s Park to remain a quiet park. Also, rethink the parking lot: adding that much impervious coverage on the field will cause even more flooding problems throughout the year, for parking needed for a few events,” she said.
Bruce Bailey noted that among the awards and plaques displayed outside the board’s meeting room was a photo from 1970 showing the park at that time, and awards honoring the township’s desire to preserve it.
"I know a number of people worked really hard, for over a year, to find someplace in the township big enough to put in maybe eight pickleball courts,” he said. "The only place they could find is Fischer’s Park? I didn’t realize our township was so filled up already.”
Bailey then suggested the board contact Mark Nicoletti of PSDC, the regional developer that owns numerous properties in the township including a near-vacant shopping center at Forty Foot and Allentown Roads, to ask if he has space for pickleball.
"He’s got lots of empty ground, and empty buildings. It’d be a great asset for Planet Fitness to have pickleball courts up there,” he said.
Cost Questioned
Tina Gallagher said the January meetings were the first she had heard of any plans for pickleball there, and questioned the $2 million cost estimate for the courts, and whether residents should believe the board’s statements that they’re only exploring the idea for now.
"We all know what happened after the board stated two years ago, ‘We are just exploring the sewer sale.’ Before the residents fully understood the issue, it was on the table, and still is,” she said.
Her objections to pickleball in particular: the environmental impact of paving, plus the sound, which she said has been classified as impulsive and similar to doors closing.
"We are sensitive to these types of sounds, because they alert us to events occurring nearby that we may need to respond to. It’s like continuous false alarms,” she said.
Noise Issue
Paul Andrews said he had a similar problem with the sound, and as an audio engineer he’s familiar with the decibel levels and frequencies that sports like pickleball produce.
"We walk that park an awful lot, and we appreciate the quiet there. It’s different from other parks in the township, and different parks in surrounding townships,” he said.
"The reason pickleball is annoying is it’s louder than other sports such as tennis. On the courts it can be about 85 decibels, but the other reason is the frequency which is emitted when you hit the ball,” Andrews said. That frequency is "definitely something that you need to pay attention to…that’s where our brain says something important is happening. So it’s louder, and it’s an annoying frequency.”
Meehan then explained that the concept plan was only that, a discussion point, for now, and said the proponents of pickleball saw a reason to add it, and early estimates that the cost to do so would be much lower at Fischer’s than at other parks in the township.
"It’s not just a sport. That’s the thing that I see for the community. Pickleball is a social activity, that joins the community together,” Meehan said.
"People who go to a pickleball court, stand there and wait to get on a court with somebody they don’t know. The people then get to know each other. That is not in this community right now, and it’s needed. It’s absolutely needed, and we will find someplace to put them in Towamencin,” he said.
Gisela Koch suggested, if the community needs a place to socialize and interact, why not a community center with indoor facilities to do so?
"I think we could use other things in this community before pickleball. We sure could use a community center, with maybe a library, or some arts, some programs there for seniors, some programs for children. And we do have space in the community to do that, before pickleball,” she said.
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Feb. 14 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit www.thereporteronline.com.
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