YMCA Presents Plan For Proposed New Facility

The Lower Bucks Family YMCA presented early plans Tuesday evening for a new facility that they are looking to build on county park land in Falls Township.

Representatives for the YMCA, which plans to move from its aging facility along South Oxford Valley Road in Bristol Township, explained their proposal and heard comments from residents and a member of the Falls Board of Supervisors who lives near the proposed facility.

The YMCA aims to lease 13 of more than 81 acres of park land around Lake Caroline on Hood Boulevard in Falls. The YMCA is planning a 48,000-square-foot building with room to expand the facility to 55,000-square-feet in the future. The new YMCA would include a gym, indoor pool, community space and other room for staff. The plan is projected to cost the nonprofit $16 million.

Representatives for the YMCA presented sketches of the building, parking area and stormwater management system in the area that residents said is prone to flooding.

Tuesday’s presentation was just to inform the community and gather feedback, said Zane Moore, acting CEO of Lower Bucks Family YMCA and CEO of the Central Bucks YMCA. He said the nonprofit will talk about the plans before deciding whether to move forward with the land development process that would request the Falls Board of Supervisors to alter the zoning of the land they want to use. The land will have to rezoned from its current status as protected park land.

Moore told the public the YMCA became interested in the site after Bucks County officials approached them about taking over management of the public Oxford Valley Pool. The nonprofit CEO said YMCA officials thought about the request and further expanded upon the idea of relocating to a new facility that abutted the pool area, which is located on park land.

“We love this vision because of what it is,” Moore said. “This has the opportunity to do something different.”

The YMCA looked at sites in Bristol Township, Falls and Middletown before exploring the park site. Moore said the YMCA could build at another site or move into an existing facility but he felt the plan presented Tuesday was the best option.

“There are other options,” Moore said when questioned. “They’re in the Plan B folder.”

The plan that was presented involved clearing a mainly wooded area of the county park that abuts the Oxford Valley Pool and South Olds Boulevard. Trees would be added as a buffer along South Olds Boulevard and stormwater facilities would also be added to the site along with rain gardens.

Numerous residents from Falls Township and the surrounding Fairless Hills sections spoke during public comment and raised concerns about what a building on the park land would do with flooding in the area. Many also raised worries about why undeveloped park land would be rezoned to allow construction.

A man from Fairless Hills spoke in opposition of the plan and called it “alarming” that the township would consider rezoning park land for new construction.

Jason Lawson, who served at Falls’ public works director, spoke as a resident who lives along the park land. He said his property is always wet and building near Lake Caroline could exacerbate the problem, adding he feared rezoning the park land could set a bad example for future development.

“No one is against the Y,” one woman said. “We just don’t want it in this area.”

Other residents raised concerns about the wildlife at the park that could be impacted and loss of wooded areas in crowded Lower Bucks County.

Many YMCA supporters brought signs and wore “I Support the YMCA” stickers during the meeting.

Fairless Hills resident Andrea Brown said the new YMCA was a “fantastic idea” that would benefit her family and the community.

“The Bucks County government’s declared designation of the park land – and other such areas in the county – is for the land to be preserved for recreation purposes and not fallow open space,” said Ralph McClellan, a former Levittown resident who is listed as serving on the YMCA Board of Directors.

McClellan also said protected species at the site would be safe and that deer “in many ways” are a hazard to humans in terms of vehicular accidents and deer ticks that carry illnesses and pathogens.

Moore said they had heard concerns from area residents and used those in their planning process, altering the plans over the past months after receiving feedback.

Supervisors Brian Galloway, who lives across from the park, took issue with McClellan’s statement, especially the park where he claimed the park land was an area of “blight and vagrancy.”

“Because I live in a slum,” Galloway snapped back.

The YMCA is looking to sell their longtime Bristol Township facility and has an agreement of sale for $3.1 million. Moore said the proceeds would pay off a crushing $2 million in debt and leave some money left over. He added the nonprofit has already sold two nearby properties, including where the Republic Bank is being built.

The Bucks County Courier Times reported in summer that Cedar Properties, who is interested in purchasing the current 2.4 acre YMCA site in Bristol Township, has proposed tearing the building down. In its place, according to a tentative plan submitted to the Bucks County Planning Commission in March, a 19,200-square-foot retail building and a 3,000-square foot drive-in restaurant with 153 parking spaces would be constructed.

A petition opposing the construction of the YMCA at the Lake Caroline site already had more than 1,500 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

The Lower Bucks Family YMCA is currently being managed by the Central Bucks YMCA and is in the process of merging, Moore said.