Friends, Neighbors and Fellow Upper Merion Area Residents:
If you haven’t driven by the former Gold’s Gym/The Factory on Valley Forge Road in recent months, you’re in for a surprise. What was once an abandoned building left to waste is about to become our new community center and the new home of the Upper Merion Senior Service Center. This is the second major improvement made to that complex as last July we started operating the Upper Merion Township Pool.
Opening a new community center has taken quite some time and thought. It started off as a combination of several residential movements for additional recreational opportunities, a fateful encounter at the King of Prussia Post Office and a joint subcommittee of the township’s Economic and Community Development Committee (ECDC) and the Parks and Recreation Board. This process hasn’t always been easy. At one time it was very politically controversial – the community center was one of the big issues in two municipal election cycles. However about 8 years later, the Upper Merion Community Center is expected to open this spring.
The Upper Merion Community Center will provide numerous benefits to our residents. It will dramatically expand the number of programs that our parks and recreation department will be able to offer. This includes year round indoor sports, fitness, arts and cultural programs – I’ll have more on this next month. The community center has already provided less obvious benefits and will continue to do so. Without the community center the township and the Upper Merion Transportation Authority would not have been permitted by PennDOT to install a traffic light at the Caley Road and Valley Forge Road intersection. This along with the sidewalks the township has installed in the area makes our community safer and more walkable. Additionally, the community center has already strengthened the township’s relationship with the school district and it may even increase both of our chances to receive grants as intergovernmental cooperation is often a factor in determining the success of grant applications. Future ideas includes plans to build trails from the community center complex to Volpi Commons across the street from the Upper Merion Middle School and turn the woods behind the community center into a mini McKaig Nature Center.
The community center has already received a significant amount of interest from our residents. As of a few weeks ago over 400 Upper Merion residents have joined sight unseen. I suspect this number will increase dramatically once tours begin and the township starts accepting monthly credit card payments. The reason we’ve been able to sell so many sight unseen memberships is because the demand for additional recreation opportunities in Upper Merion is very high and rates for passholders – our word for members – are low compared to gym memberships. The Upper Merion Swimming Pool rates are also extremely reasonable and significantly cheaper than what the previous proprietor charged. There is also a 25% discount at the pool for those who join both facilities as well as several other discounts, including a 15% off all parks and recreation programs for those who become annual passholders. It was always one of the Board of Supervisors main goals to keep the community center complex affordable and we’ve been able to do this and not raise taxes due to our robust local economy which has provided the township with increased revenue the past few years.
The community center is expected to open in a matter of weeks and the date of the grand opening will be announced soon. For more information on the community center, you can click this link to the township’s webpage on this subject or contact the parks and recreation department at 610-265-1071.
Next time: Upper Merion Community Center, Part 2: Features of the new community center.
Additional Business: The King of Prussia Rotary’s Taste of the Suburbs is this Sunday, April 3rd at the King of Prussia Mall. This is one of my favorite annual events as it’s where good food meets good drink and good people with the proceeds supporting local causes. Please click this link if you’d like to purchase tickets.
Additional Business, Part 2: My video feature 5 Questions in 100 Seconds will return soon.
