Timeframe for dam removal and new recreational amenities

Editor’s note: The following blog post was written by Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy of American Rivers, the national nonprofit leading the Brandy Springs Park dam removal and stream restoration project.

On a clear, cool October evening, I had the distinct honor of meeting with the Park

Board and about 45 people who love Brandy Springs Park in the community building.

We came together to talk about the partially breached dam and the former pond.

I tried to speak with everyone that evening, but it was hard to get all the way around the

room because people were very friendly and they had a lot to say. I was very impressed

that people would give up more than two hours of their after-work time on a school night

to come share their ideas and ask questions about what could be done with the broken

dam and the drained pond. Clearly the park is a well-loved place and I’m proud to be in

this adventure with the Park Board and the community.

I am not surprised to hear that people are eager to see change start to happen. If I knew

I was going to get new features and aesthetic improvements, I would be hopeful for a

short wait separating now and the time I could start enjoying these new amenities.

However, there’s a great deal of preliminary work that must happen soon, followed by

engineering design and a permit to be applied for and received, and then funds to be

raised before we can start making noticeable changes along the stream.

Just today the Park Board and I selected a consultant who will do surveying around the

dam, in the stream channel, and the drained pond to create a map that illustrates the

geometry of the broken dam, the stream channel, and the prospective restored

floodplain. They will also be sampling the sediment in the stream channel to meet the

requirements of PA’s Office of Dam Safety. This is preliminary work that will eventually

support the engineering design for removing the dam and ensuring a restored stream

channel through the former pond. It will also help us predict the best locations for native

shrubs and trees to be planted once the dam is out. When the surveying and sampling

are completed in early summer, that information will be used to support a dam removal

design plan and a permit application for complete dam removal and stream channel

restoration. We anticipate that the Office of Dam Safety could approve that plan in early

2027, making dam removal and stream channel restoration a real possibility for summer

of 2027.

The same consulting firm that’s doing the dam and stream study will compile all the

ideas for park improvements that we discussed at the meeting in October, 2025. Their

landscape architect will draw up two possible site plans based on the high-ranking

features that people chose: porch swings arranged around fire pits, a sensory garden, a

pollinator garden, a walking trail with an elevated boardwalk through the former pond,

and native species trees and blooming native shrubs in the floodplain. You are fortunate

to have an Eagle Scout candidate who plans to create the sensory garden as his

community project. The rest of the new features will be installed as a second phase of

restoration after the dam is removed and the existing stream channel is restored, likely

in spring of 2028. The primary reason for the delay is twofold: 1) dam removal and

stream channel restoration must be completed before we can go ahead with

improvements in that area; and 2) fundraising for the new park features can’t begin until

we have a final design and a known cost.

It seems like a long time away until the new vision for the stream side of the park can be

achieved, and it might seem to you like nothing is happening, but that’s not the case. I’ll

be continually working behind the scenes to make sure progress happens, and I’ll be

updating the Park Board with every box that gets checked off the to-do list. The next

thing to look forward to is the meeting with the landscape architect this spring to choose

the stream area’s new park amenities and where they will be installed. Once the

meeting is scheduled, the Park Board will announce it well in advance so you can plan

to join us!