Apr 25, 2018 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read

When Rolling Hills Country Club was open, many of the members and their guests enjoyed sitting at the club’s ornate and well-maintained bar, with its sturdy wooden frame, granite top and brass foot railings.

“I don’t know that we’re going to be able to get that bar out of there intact,” Paul Lauer told Peters Township Council members. “That’s built in casework, and I don’t know how you would do that.”

And so if Lauer, the township manager, is correct in his assessment, the bar is destined to disappear as part of the clubhouse’s long-discussed demise.

Council on April 23 voted unanimously to award a $67,000 contract to Advanced Builders Inc. of Perryopolis to demolish three structures on the former Rolling Hills property. In addition to the clubhouse, two smaller buildings will be leveled near what once was the club’s swimming pool.

The clubhouse has been vacant since Rolling Hills closed at the start of 2016. Along with providing an array of entertainment options for members, the club also served as home base for McMurray Rotarians, who met there each Thursday for a decade and a half.

The municipality now owns the eastern half of the 180-acre property, clubhouse included.

“We went through, and we took some things that we thought could be incorporated into another structure,” Lauer said. “There are a couple of windows in the entranceway that have ‘Rolling Hills’ on them. There was a chandelier that was really kind of spectacular in the entranceway. We captured that.”

In July, council voted to demolish the clubhouse instead of attempting to preserve it. A building used as a garage will be maintained, as called for in the master plan for developing the municipal property as Rolling Hills Park.

Council at its latest meeting voted to adopt the master plan. Mackin Engineering Co. of Findlay Township, in conjunction with a steering committee appointed by council, drafted the document.

“I think it reflects not only the guiding principles that were developed by council,” Lauer said, “it reflects what the community would like to see in this plan.”

Its unanimous approval puts the township in position to seek funding toward the park’s development and establishing possible municipal contributions.

“We can use this as a guide to incorporating it into the township’s capital improvement program,” Lauer explained. “And finally, it allows us to move ahead with the zoning hearing board to get a special exception to actually develop the park on that site.”

He emphasized that the master plan is merely conceptual.

“It’s a general guide for the development of the park. It can change,” he said. “There’s no commitment to funding anything that’s in that plan. All those discussions occur as part of our annual budgeting process.”

James Berquist, council chairman, expressed confidence in the plan.

“There’s been a lot of effort into this,” he said. “It’s a fine job by the planners that we picked, and so we should be proud of that. It’s time to move forward.”