Opening of Whitehall Road Regional Park delayed again due to outside ‘mistakes.’ What we know

Centre County residents that have been waiting years for the highly-anticipated Whitehall Road Regional Park to open will have to wait just a little bit longer, as the park is experiencing yet another holdup.

At the Centre Region Council of Governments General Forum meeting on Sept. 23, Centre Region Parks and Recreation Director Kristy Owens reported that construction of the park as a whole is complete. However, she said the park can’t open without formally documenting how the stormwater facility was built nor without a certificate of occupancy — and the latter can’t come without the former.

The stormwater documentation is traditionally completed during the construction process of a project; however, Owens said that the delays in that process are a result of “mistakes that have been made through our engineering service.”

No timeline for the park’s opening has yet been made available.

Benjamin Etsell, CRCOG’s recently hired executive director , confirmed in an email to the CDT that the stormwater documentation — formally known as stormwater as-builts — weren’t completed during the park’s construction like they should’ve been, and now the engineering firm working on the project is finishing those after the park’s completion.

“The stormwater as-builts require ground penetration testing, which was not something that was conducted during construction,” Etsell wrote. ”I cannot determine who made that decision or if they understood the full impact, but I am working with our engineering firm to get those tests completed as soon as possible. The engineers are also working out a few additional calculations for a report, which will then be submitted to Ferguson Township for approval.”

Etsell also added that before a certificate of occupancy can be granted to the park by the township, the land development process must be completed in its entirety. And, with the as-builts not being complete, neither is the land development process.

Until that process is completed, the park cannot open to the public. Etsell was hesitant to estimate how long the entire process might take, although he believed “most” of it could be done in one or two weeks. Still, he declined to offer an overall estimate for when the park might open.

When Owens was asked at the general forum meeting about a timeline for the park’s opening, she was also unable to provide attendees with an exact date because of the delays.

“It’s hard for me to answer some of these questions, because a lot of (the delays) have been beyond our control,” Owens said. “The errors that have been brought up since even the beginning of this project have been very, very challenging. It’s also hard to answer some of these questions because they came up way before my time, back in Phase 1 of the project.”

In June, in an interview with the CDT, Owens was reluctant to provide an opening date for the park due to delays related to park vandalism, but had said that she wanted to have it “up and running” by fall to hold seasonal sports events there.

Another factor in the park’s delayed opening is the amount of turnover that both the engineering firm and CRPR have experienced since the park’s groundbreaking in 2022 — which Owens mentioned briefly at the general forum meeting.

Etsell cited employment issued during the construction process as well, and wrote that in the future, he will be looking to add “additional external assistance” to projects to make sure they have “the operational capacity and professional experience” necessary for success. He also expressed gratitude for everyone’s patience with the park’s delays.

“The entire staff, and our municipal partners, know that this has been frustrating for the entire region and we are thankful for the patience of all affected by these delays,” Etsell wrote. “While I do not anticipate any additional projects of this size in the near future, I can assure everyone that such projects will be handled differently to ensure we are delivering a quality product and service on a reasonable timeline.”

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