Local news

Upgrades on the way for Grove Community Park

FLEMINGTON -- Flemington Borough is moving forward with a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) funded project with Grove Community Park.

A grant by DCNR for $70,000 was originally applied to by the borough back in April 2022. That same grant was awarded and progress is underway to budget the project before construction begins in Spring of 2024. The project funding is being based off of a $40,000 match by the borough. The project was then greenlit in September of 2022.

Several of the upgrades that are budgeted in the project are an addition of indigenous Pennsylvania trees, weather proofing the dog park, a new 405 square foot plaza area near the veteran's memorial and upgrades to the old restroom located at the top of the park. New trees are planned to be planted around the parking lot area and around the Little League field, according to Flemington Borough council member and recreation board chairman, Wayne Allison.

"For some of the upgrades, we want to put trees on the bank along the Little League field that will help improve the park's appearance... We want to add some weather protection upgrades to the dog park and we want to update the older bathroom to help enhance the upper part of the park," he told The Express.

Now after a year, the project is pushing ahead. The borough's engineer, Stephen Gibson, attended a borough council meeting on Oct. 12 to give an update on the project's current state. Due to rising inflation costs, some original budgeted plans had to be cut to meet the $70,000. The costs had risen about $30,000, amounting to $104,000.

According to Gibson, the borough's recreation committee made several recommendations in cutting down costs.

"The rec committee asked me to make some suggestions... Globalization would drop a little bit, EMS control could drop a little bit. We talked about reducing the brick pavers, seating area by the Veteran's Memorial -- just the square footage -- it’s a fairly large area to begin with," he said.

Other cuts to the budgeted plan will include diminishing the amount of additional benches from six to four, picnic tables and recreation swings; eliminating one of the two proposed bike racks; $3,000 worth of dog park agility equipment -- agility equipment for dog training. With the recommendations Gibson gave, he said it would lessen the costs to about $70,430.

Borough unanimously voted to approve Gibson's recommendation in cutting the necessary costs during the Oct. 12 meeting.

"You can still have a pretty good project. We can bid alternate bids in case they come in low and you can do the extra work," he said.

The next step is getting the approval of DCNR before contracting bids can be sent out. Changes could be made to the project depending on what the final costs come out to be.

"Ever since we were awarded this project, it has been somewhat of a nightmare compared to earlier grants we had got that were smooth sailing. Steve has done a great job trying to get it down to a point where we can hopefully afford it and DCNR will approve it," Allison said during the Oct. 12 meeting.

Flemington Borough council and recreation committee is anticipating holding a park rededication next year. Depending on the project's finalization, a rededication will be planned by Summer 2024, celebrating 75 years since it was established.