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Designers unveil multi-phase plan to restore basketball courts, add pickleball and amenities at GPCC park
Summary
YSM Landscape Architects presented a pre-final concept for GPCC park that prioritizes two basketball courts, six pickleball courts, consolidated storage and new restrooms; staff will produce cost estimates, propose phasing (basketball as first phase) and fold the plan into the capital improvement plan for grant targeting.
Landscape architects from YSM presented a pre-final conceptual plan for GPCC park at the council's July 7 workshop, proposing new courts, consolidated maintenance storage, amenities and phased implementation.
Anne Yost of YSM walked council through a design centered on the southwest corner of the park: two basketball courts (recreational and high-school sizes) with a shaded pavilion, six pickleball courts in a central green, relocated bocce courts, a small enclosed multi-use hard-surface court, and a proposed splash pad near existing restrooms. The plan also recommends consolidating three scattered maintenance buildings into one two-story structure with maintenance space on the lower level and community-group storage and support above, plus centralized restrooms to serve the amphitheater and ball fields.
Yost said staff and designers have consulted stakeholders including Villanova and bocce players; she reported Villanova expressed interest in closer locker-room and concession amenities and that the larger locker/concession building would likely be a Villanova responsibility while the township would fund public restrooms used by broader park patrons. Council members asked whether the design preserved prior net counts and accommodated youth hoops; Yost confirmed two court sizes are included and said additional side hoops could be added.
On infrastructure, the team proposed adding roughly 42 parking spaces with a new in/out off Germantown Pike and evergreen buffering where municipal land is not owned. Designers suggested lighting or installing conduit now for later lights and recommended ADA trail connections to link amenities and the existing Villanova trail.
Staff and designers recommended progressing to cost estimates and a phased approach, with the basketball corner likely prioritized because it was the initial impetus for the project. They noted grant vehicles vary (limits and local-match rules) and said a phasing plan should be tailored to the grant programs targeted. Council members raised traffic and driveway concerns for Germantown Pike and suggested exploring routing or future acquisition of adjacent parcels to reduce driveway additions.
Next steps: staff will ask the designers for cost estimates and a phasing plan, fold the project into the capital improvement plan for prioritization, and pursue grant opportunities to offset construction costs.
