HALFMOON TOWNSHIP — Autumn Meadow Park is a place that can be used more regularly as a gathering spot, recreational area and event location. Noting its importance, local leaders have announced improvement plans that will begin this spring.
Improvements to the park off of Smith Road in Stormstown include an updated entrance and parking area, a terrace area, a new youth playground and tot area, a viewing hill with tiered levels, a garden, bleachers and a 1/3-mile walking trail. The park also looks to improve ADA accessibility to all areas, including the basketball court, pavilions and sports field.
“The No. 1 benefit for the community is that this will be a pleasant place where citizens of this community can engage with one another,” said Halfmoon Township Manger Susan Steele. “The supervisors and the township as a whole have really wanted more community engagement and we think this park will help provide that. I always say that government builds it so you will come.”
The $700,000 project is made possible by a $500,000 grant from DCNR and support from the Centre County Bulldogs Football League, which uses the park during the season.
“We couldn’t do this type of project without the support without raising taxes,” said Steele.
The park will be closed for a year during construction, said Steele and looks to be completed by March 2020.
Steele said the recessed football field, with the viewing hill, will provide a space for potential entertainment options in the future, and that the space will provide a place for farmers markets and community yard sales, something that Steele said the township wants to add to bring people together.
The park improvement is part of the township’s Master Park Plan that was put in place in 2015. The plan looked to the community for input on how residents would like the two township parks (the other is Municipal Park) to be managed and improved upon moving forward.
“They wanted the parks to be a way to engage people to get together. … The citizens wanted more walkways so there is going to be a third-of-a-mile perimeter asphalt track around the football field,” said Steele.
She said the community also wanted a more diverse play area for children, so they are removing the swing set and adding play areas for toddles and older children.
“They really want community yard sales, farmers markets … a larger festival park. So we are putting that in the football field since it is recessed and we are putting in amphitheater seating and an ADA viewing area. Similar to what is in the arboretum with those cement bleacher seats and then there will be bleachers on the other side as well.”
She said the park will allow residents who travel to State College and other areas for work a place to gather and recreate in their own neighborhood.
