Pennsylvania Chautauqua Foundation representatives presented a request for an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant totaling $150,000 for a $481,471 improvement project at Soldiers Field in Mount Gretna.
That request came during a workshop session of the Lebanon County Commissioners on Wednesday, April 17. During that information-gathering session, commissioners said the request would be added as an agenda item and voted at its regularly scheduled meeting the next day.
At Wednesday’s workshop, John Feather, vice chairman of the PA Chautauqua Foundation, led the discussion with John Weaver, foundation chairman, and Steven Gergely of Manheim-based Harbor Engineering in attendance.
Feather told the commissioners the association had raised $331,471 of the projected cost and was requesting an ARPA grant so that work could begin at the historic site, which used to be a training facility for the Pennsylvania National Guard.
“Most people don’t realize Soldiers Field gets its name from the Pennsylvania National Guard that had its summer encampment in Mount Gretna every year, just like they go after the Gap,” said Feather. “Well, they went to Mount Gretna starting in 1885 and continued until 1935 when the Mount Gretna space, which was 3,000 acres, was deemed too small an area for the enhanced artillery that they had and the enhanced tank battalions that they were training on.”
Feather said the project’s purpose is to improve use of the field and surrounding area.
“The proposal is that we’re going to make a number of improvements to the Soldiers Field area to enhance recreational uses and reflect on the historic nature of Soldiers Field,” said Feather. “As we described in the application, it would be a nature area where people can walk in various sections of it.”
The improvements include a new parking lot, a crosswalk along Route 117, two walking paths along the former narrow gauge railroad and abandoned beach path and a new footbridge above Conewago Creek.
The parking area is meant to funnel visitors to the walking path, the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail, and Mount Gretna events like the annual art show in August.
Read More: Mount Gretna and Lebanon County celebrate ‘Year of the Arts’ in 2024
The foundation’s plan calls for 49 parking spaces to be built at a cost of $101,924, the second largest portion of the project. The top expense, nearly $200,000, is allocated for construction of the pedestrian bridge and rehabilitation of the beach path, which was created by Robert Coleman in 1890, according to Feather.
“Forty-nine spaces, 12 of which would be of some kind of a hard surface,” said Feather, who noted the entranceway will also be a hard surface. “Two of them will be for ADA compliant parking, handicap parking, and the other 10 will be of a hard surface. It will be pervious, meaning water can pass through the parking spaces.”
Gergely said the 37 other spaces will have a turf-like surface so that it looks like grass on the surface but contain stone, plastics and other subsurface materials. “So it will present as grass on the surface,” added Gergely.
“Even when you’re on it, once the grass matures, it will look like the grass surface, you will cut the grass just the way you cut the rest of the field. I call it a grid work, a screen if you will, so the cars don’t get stuck in the mud,” noted Feather.
Feather said that drainage of the parking area, which will also see the installation of low-level, downward projected lighting during this renovation project, has been problematic in the past.
“That’s one of the problems with Soldiers Field, in an earlier lifetime someone graded it to create a baseball field but when they graded it they took all the topsoil with it, and so it’s very difficult to grow grass. We’re going to have to enhance that parking area so the grass can survive,” he added.
“We had an art show a couple years ago that it rained on Saturday morning and somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 cars had to be towed out of this section of Soldier’s Field because it turned to mud. That’s why we’re using this kind of gridwork to protect it.”
During an April 2023 public meeting, LebTown reported concerns about construction of the parking lot. Asked during the workshop how those concerns were addressed, Feather said that overall input favored the project.
Read More: PA Chautauqua Foundation unveils plans for Soldiers Field, gets mixed reactions
“There were members of the community that objected to any kind of a parking area, they also objected to a hard surface of any type,” he said. “We got feedback from people that supported this project and concluded that the majority of people in the community think this is a good idea. There are still some people who don’t like it. I don’t know of a project of this nature that has 100 percent support. We, the foundation, believe this is in the best interest of the Mount Gretna community, and is supported by a majority of people in the community, so we are moving forward with it.”
Feather added that changes were made to the original plan in response to those concerns.
“The initial proposal that was discussed at the public meeting in April 2023 had it all hard surface, and in response to those criticisms we came up with this plan that has the road surface, the oval, as the only conventional asphalt,” said Feather. “All of the other parking spaces are porous in some fashion, either porous asphalt or the gridwork we described, and once the grid is down and the grass grows, you won’t even see it.”
Feather said the foundation also addressed public misconceptions over the past year.
“There was also some misconception at the very beginning,” he said. “There were some beliefs that it would be one big parking lot and all of it would be asphalted and it would be a huge area. Our first proposal had 75 spaces and we pared that down to 49 spaces and moved the parking a lot further to the east than the original design in response to community comments about that as well, again, the nature of the spaces themselves, green spaces as opposed to hard surface blacktop (spaces).”
The pedestrian trail will allow users to experience nature in a wooded area. The ADA compliant trail will run from the parking area through the wooded area to the south, crossing Conewago Creek, and leading to a pedestrian-protected crossing of Route 117.
“One of the sections that we’re proposing is an ADA compliant pathway, walkway through primarily the wooded area that leads from the open fields winding through the trees,” said Feather. “There will be a pedestrian bridge, also ADA compliant, that will lead ultimately over to (Route) 117 and the Jigger Shop, gift shop and playhouse for those that want to travel that course.”
Plant and tree signage will be added for educational purposes. Signage noting the flora and fauna will contain QR codes for digital users and verbiage for those who prefer to read without consulting their phone.
This provided graphic displays the $150,000 ARPA funding request for Soldiers Field in Mount Gretna.
“We’ll be working with the Mount Gretna Bird Club for some of those designations as well,” said Feather. “We’ll also be installing some benches for people to sit and reflect on whatever they wish. To have a quiet space, if you will.”
Commissioner chairman Robert Phillips said the project checks all of the boxes for him and noted support for it through the fund-raising efforts of the organization. Originally, the organization planned to request $200,000 but lowered its ask when additional monies were obtained through fund-raising efforts.
“That’s a good indication to me when we’re using public funds that the public is engaged in supporting it to a great extent,” said Phillips. “More so than most that I see in the frequency of donations and in the size of some of the donations.”
Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz said she believes this is a “fine” and “noble” project but expressed concerns about funding it. She asked about other funding sources, including the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, South Londonderry Township, which is where Soldiers Field is located, and past Marcellus Shale funding provided to the foundation.
Litz said the county was unable to capture administrative fees from CARES funding it distributed during the pandemic and added there was “an agreement that we would spend it on county-owned projects.”
“I think this is a fine project, I think it is a noble project, but I also know what Commissioner Ames and I had a vision for and that was to finish our projects that the county already owns, Monument Park, the Krall Barn, we had vested interest in both of these. They are not complete,” said Litz. “I think before I do anything, I have to hear an update on Krall Barn.”
On Thursday during discussion about the proposal and prior to the vote, LebTown asked Litz to clarify her statement during the workshop session about ARPA funding being used for county-owned projects and the majority comment.
Commissioner Mike Kuhn responded to LebTown’s clarification that Litz was possibily saying the county should prioritize county projects.
When asked again about an agreement with Ames concerning ARPA spending, Litz said no formal agreement was reached and cited informal discussions.
Following that discussion, the commissioners voted 2-1, with Litz voting no, to provide an ARPA grant totaling $150,000 to the foundation for the Soldiers Field project.
This award means the county has a remaining balance of $663,469 of the $26.1 million it originally received from the federal government. The federal stimulus bill was passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden to aid public health and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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