When will Whitehall Road Regional Park finally open? As spring approaches, it’s still unclear

Following a series of hurdles on its road to opening, Whitehall Road Regional Park is facing yet another one, with an opening date still not set, and at least a year behind schedule.

At the Centre Region Council of Government’s general forum meeting Monday, CRCOG Director Benjamin Estell delivered a status update on the multi-million dollar park, including a stormwater inspection report that CRCOG recently received.

The five-page report includes comments about stormwater-related errors that were spotted at the park during its inspection. While some of errors are negligible enough to be corrected after the park’s opening, at least two issues could affect the opening date, according to Estell.

“There are at least two pipes that are shown to be installed at a much lesser slope than what was designed, so the comments call for re-laying the drain for these pipes on-site, which could be significant work.” Estell said. “I have forwarded this onto Stahl Sheaffer, the engineer for this project, to begin working on all these corrections.”

It comes after Estell and Centre Region Parks and Recreation Director Kristy Owens said in October that the park’s opening — originally planned for spring 2024, then later eyed for that fall — had been held up by a failure in stormwater construction documentation. Usually that documentation is done during a project’s construction process, but the documentation was not completed due to “mistakes that have been made through (CRCOG’s) engineering service,” Owens said.

With spring now fast approaching, it is possible that the park could open even if significant work is required on the pipes, by sectioning off the affected parts of the park.

Because Stahl Sheaffer received the report so recently, Estell said the engineering firm hasn’t had the time yet to determine what corrections it would be possible to complete while the park is open.

“The reality for me has been that while the park has not been open, it has existed in its built state for some time now, and we have not witnessed problems in any of these pipes,” Etsell said at the meeting. “However, there are regulations that we have to meet, and we will do the work that we have to do to meet those.”

In the meantime, Estell said he plans on engaging in talks with Ferguson Township to try and move forward with the occupancy process.

New pavilion in the works, concerns remain

Even though there’s no opening date for the park that broke ground in 2022, a new construction project will be coming to Whitehall Road Regional Park in the near future.

The general forum voted unanimously Monday to hire Fernsler & Hutchinson Architecture, LLC for $43,950 as the design architect for a new pavilion, complete with a concession stand. The total project cost is estimated at about $500,000.

The pavilion was to be built during the project’s first phase alongside the park’s bathrooms, but as engineering problems arose, it was set aside and brought back up now as a separate plan. The park’s opening date is not contingent on the construction of the pavilion, and funding for the pavilion came from grant funds, a private donor and use of the remaining Regional Parks loan fund.

Given the history, Ferguson Township supervisor Omari Patterson said during Monday’s meeting that he’s “nervous” about the addition of the pavilion. Harris Township Supervisor Frank Harden agreed.

“In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, ‘it’s deja vu all over again,’” he said. “This is the same way we did Whitehall Road Regional Park, it still isn’t open and I’m going to make a statement here tonight that I want everybody to realize — we have an amount that has been delegated for this project, and we are not exceeding it. I will not vote for one more dollar for this project other than what has already been allocated.”

Harden continued venting his frustrations with the Whitehall project, likening CRCOG’s handling of it to the definition of insanity, by “doing the same old thing and expecting different results.”

Measures have been taken by CRCOG for the pavilion’s design and construction process to make sure that mistakes don’t happen again — the architect’s $43,950 payment is a “not-to-exceed” amount, barring permission from granted by general forum, and monthly progress updates to CRCOG on the pavilion’s design and construction are required.

Estell and College Township supervisor Mike Bernier offered reassurance on those measures, with Bernier saying he has faith in the project team and their ability to carry out the pavilion project adequately.