Brownfields to Playfields: Ira Reynolds Riverfront Park groundbreaking ceremony

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday at the site of the Ira Reynolds Riverfront Park in Susquehanna Depot. The park project is a combined effort between local and state agencies and volunteers. STAFF PHOTO/ STACI WILSON

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday at the site of the Ira Reynolds Riverfront Park in Susquehanna Depot. The park project is a combined effort between local and state agencies and volunteers. STAFF PHOTO/ STACI WILSON

An old railyard in Susquehanna Depot is seeing new life with the groundbreaking held last week of the Ira Reynolds Riverfront Park – part of the state’s Brownfields to Playfields initiative.
The project is located along the Susquehanna River on a portion of the former Erie Rail Yard. Plans call for the development of a community park with walking trails, a pavilion, lighting and access to the river.
The park is named in honor of Ira Reynolds, who lived to the age of 108 and was known as the nation’s oldest Boy Scout. Reynolds also worked as an electrician at the Erie Rail Yard site.
State Senator Lisa Baker said the park in honor of Reynolds was “a fitting tribute” to his legacy of scouting and work.
Commissioner Alan Hall thanked the volunteers, organizations and agencies who came together to make the park a reality. “Their vision has changed this community forever with positive growth,” he said.
“We believe all Pennsylvanians should have access to safe, clean, and ready to use parks — and our collaborative efforts on this project will help to do just that at this site,” said Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Deputy Secretary Lauren Imgrund. “Pennsylvania has nearly 6,000 local parks. They are our go-to places for close-to-home recreation and they are a major priority in Pennsylvania’s long-range recreation plan.”
“For years we turned our backs on our riverfronts, now we’re looking for new connections to the natural world,” Imgrund said.
DCNR is supporting the project with a $250,000 Community Conservation Partnerships Program Grant.
DEP’s Eric Supey, Noetheast Environmental Clean-up Manager, said the 43,6 acre site has contaminated soil.
“DEP is happy to be involved with the clean-up,” he said. Site clearing has already started which will be followed by excavation of the contaminated soil.
DEP has earmarked about $1.9 million for the project. The agency is implementing an interim clean-up response at the former rail yard under the Hazardous Sites Clean-up Act (HSCA). The plan includes excavation of contaminated soil in areas where the potential for public exposure is high, clearing and grubbing of trees and shrubs, re-grading the land, installing a soil cap over the contaminated area, and seeding.
Paul Magnosky, of DCED, said the park would provide “tangible, immediate benefits” to the community, and also “spur further economic development.
“This project is meant to serve a community with an old industrial site with potential to be useful to residents once it is cleaned up,” said Mike Bedrin, Director of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Northeast Regional Office. “It is a great example of state agencies working with local officials to provide a recreational benefit to residents.”
The Erie Railyard was abandoned in the mid-1970s after more than a century of operating in Susquehanna Depot. In the mid-1990s, wide-spread heavy metals contamination, such as lead and arsenic, related to railroad activities, was discovered in soil at the site.
Work on the park is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2017.
The project, several years in the making, was moved forward by Margaret Beigert. Judith Hershel is currently coordinating the project at the local level for the borough.

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