Jan 16, 2018 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read

Peters Township Council plans to vote as soon as Feb. 12 on adopting a master plan for the development of Rolling Hills Park.

Jim Berquist, council chairman, announced the time frame during its Jan. 15 public hearing on the plan as it pertains to 90 acres of the former Rolling Hills Country Club property. The cost estimate to implement everything included in the plan is $28.27 million.

Township manager Paul Lauer emphasized that neither municipal officials nor the steering committee tasked with developing the master plan has “suggested that all of this is going to be done in one contract that brings this park to its total buildout in a short period of time.”

“If you look back on Peterswood Park,” Lauer said about the township’s primary recreational area, “there have been a number of master plans for that park, and it has been developed over time. And that would be the same thing that should be the community’s expectation with regard to this park, that it will be a process that will take many years before the vision that’s in this master plan is completely realized.”

At the public hearing, Robert Genter of Findlay Township-based Mackin Engineering Co., which worked with the steering committee, outlined specifics of the plan.

“The master plan is really a guide, a very detailed guide, to help the township build out this facility,” he said.

“And we’ve gone through with the township to identify even the programming and the maintenance and operation of the facility, so that they have a very good idea of not only the initial construction costs, but the maintenance and operations costs that will happen, as well.”

The concept is to divide the park into three areas – South Valley, Range Top and North Valley – each with its own set of amenities. At the heart of the South Valley, the section closest to the park access off East McMurray Road, is a 10-acre aquatics park, the presence of which would fulfill a request that township residents have been making for decades.

Ted Wallover, whose Lancaster consulting firm specializes in aquatics facilities, discussed plans for Rolling Hills Park that include a “beach entry” pool, with a gradual slope instead of a wall, along with water slides and related activities, a four-lane competitive pool and a water playground.

He stressed the importance of producing revenue through programs offered.

“Yes, it’s an asset for the community, but it has to cover the cost of operation,” he said.

“And we believe the features and the kind of activities that are being planned in a facility like this, of this scale, can be covered through the kind of programs that are basically generated.”

The cost of the aquatics portion is estimated at $9.8 million, a figure that would increase if revised plans call for a larger competitive pool.

Rolling Hills Park is to be located on the municipal half of the former country club property. Peters Township School District is using the other for construction of a new $90 million high school.