"This time next year you'll see an actual park here!" insists Mike Pickel proudly. As chairman of London Grove Township's Parks and Recreation Board he was among the group gathered on a dreary Sunday afternoon, April 25 for Goddard Park's groundbreaking ceremony at Wickerton and State roads.
The rain didn't dampen anyone's spirits though; as they were there to celebrate a goal that was finally realized through the hard work of many and generosity of others. London Grove Township's 125-acre community park, to be known as Goddard Park, will be developed in phases as funding becomes available. The Township received a $250,000 grant from Chester County and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources that must be used before December 31, 2010. It is hoped in the first phase that the grant money will cover walking trails, a parking lot, and a playground. As more funds become available other facilities such as a dog park, amphitheater, pavilion, community garden, and playing fields may be added.
“We want the park to eventually have something for everyone,” explains Pickel. “We decided it should start with the kids. The playground is going to be really big!”
It took more than a decade of the collaborative efforts of community members, London Grove Township supervisors and the Parks and Recreation Board to make the park a reality. “An awful lot of the work was behind the scenes,” emphasizes Pickel.
In his introductory comments, Chairman of the London Grove Township Board of Supervisors David Eckerd acknowledged all those who have worked tirelessly on the project. “The supervisors give it direction, but it’s another group that puts the tires to the road – the Parks and Recreation Board.” He then noted, “But it would not be here if not for the fabulous gift of the Goddards.”
Connie Alegranti, a past Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, gave a brief history lesson on the birth of Goddard Park. Alegranti, who shows promise as both a negotiator and a comedian began, “When we first decided we wanted a park we had great needs, but no money.”
She relayed the story of how Steve and Marna Goddard approached her and another supervisor, Lou Kaplan, with a very intriguing offer. The Goddards promised to donate 40 acres to the Township for a park if they could accumulate another 40 contiguous acres. Alegranti had the crowd chuckling when she added, “Oh, and another thing, they told us we couldn’t tell anybody about it!”
Over a period of time, they acquired several parcels for the park, but ironically the most difficult to acquire was the smallest – a 6.5-acre piece between two of the other parcels. When they finally had the last piece in their puzzle, Alegranti went back to the Goddards who were true to their word and made arrangements to donate 40-acres.
Throughout the process, the Township has had expert guidance from consultants in a number of areas. Present at the groundbreaking were landscape architect Denise Husband, John Gaadt who was responsible for the park site master plan, and David Sweet who was involved with grants for the project.
“We owned land on both sides of the creek,” Marna Goddard explains. “We thought it would be a shame to have houses there and it certainly wouldn’t be a good thing for the creek. That’s when we first thought about offering the land to the Township for a park. But 40 acres isn’t enough for a park, so we came up with our plan.”
Steve Goddard concurs and adds, “One key word in our proposal was contiguous. The land the Township acquired all had to connect.”
This article is reproduced from the Chester County Press
