Manor Woods Master Plan to Public Affairs

The meeting was a little less cantankerous than previous gatherings on the subject — there was no filibustering or arguing. And it was also a little less attended. But in the end, there was a consensus: The plan’s OK.

Last night, Abington Parks and Recreation Director Doug Wendell hosted a community meeting at McKinley Fire Co. to discuss the future of Manor Woods Park — a 5.3-acre wooded parcel located on Forrest Avenue, across from Alverthorpe Park.

Wendell said the township purchased the land in 2008 from Somerford, a company that had intentions of building a 64-bed hospice care facility on the land. (Somerford purchased the land from the Sisters of St. Basil.) When the company’s plans fell through — the project made it all the way through the planning development stage — the township stepped in and purchased the land.

The cost was $2.2 million; the Montgomery County Open Space Program fronted 80 percent of the cost and the township picked up the rest.

Last month, Chuck Strodoski, a landscape architect with YSM Landscape Architects, out of York, presented a plan for the land: It basically included trails and the possibility of a small parking lot.

(Strodoski also discussed the possibility of constructing a football field on the land; he and Wendell took heat from residents for even considering the idea, and it was quickly scrapped.)

Last night, Strodoski presented a similar plan which included: removing evasive species of plants from the land, creating trails, and perhaps creating a small parking lot.

Some residents said they just wanted the land to remain “open space,” and not “developed” in any way, even if “development” meant creating a park and walking trails. Wendell said because the county assisted in purchasing the land, the plot would have to be turned into a usable space for all Montgomery County residents — and ADA-compliant. He bristled at the term “developed,” and said that “development” would have happened had the 64-bed assisted living facility been built on the land. 

Other residents said a small parking lot would do nothing to quell the parking problem on Douglass Avenue; they said people park on their street and walk across Forrest Avenue to . Wendell said that solving parking problems was out of his realm.

More tweaks to the master plan include:

• A five-spot, pervious parking lot
• A short, wood guiderail to prevent cars in the parking lot from entering the trails
• A pedestrian entrance on Forrest Avenue, which would be closed at dusk
• A fence to define the property
• No lights
• And the possibility of a sidewalk

According to Wendell, the cost to transform the land into a usable park would run around $400,000 plus maintenance costs which he called  “not terribly high.” He quickly acknowledged that the parks department doesn’t have the money for the project, but said some of the elements could be done over time. 

“Anything we do with the land would be done through the capital budget,” Wendell said after the meeting. “First, we would like fencing for the park [along Forrest Avenue], followed by dressing up the entrance.”

Wendell said the master plan will likely be on the agenda for the April public affairs committee meeting.

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