Collegeville Borough Receives Additional Funding;
Work to Begin This Fall on the Creekside Park
In 2020, Collegeville Borough received a Montco 2040 Grant for $106,000 to develop a creek side park on W. First Ave. adjacent to the Perkiomen Creek. The park will provide safe access to the Perkiomen Creek for the purposes of canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding and fishing. The park will consist of a boat ramp, boat storage, parking area, picnic tables and landscaping. However, the Borough could not access the land on W. First Ave. until this year when the Lower Providence Regional Sewer Authority finished their work on a second sewer pipeline.
With the passage of time, costs had risen, so the Borough applied for a second Montco grant of $72,000. The Borough was just notified late last week that it was awarded that grant.
An original boat ramp that needed repair had been discovered in the area several years ago by Ryan Beltz of the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy (PWC). Ryan had been researching creek access points for the Conservancy’s new Water Trail initiative. The Watershed completed reconstruction of the boat ramp in February, 2023. The proposed park land property is owned by Collegeville Borough and is directly adjacent to park land owned by Montgomery County, called “Central Perkiomen Park.”
The Boat Ramp Project complements the Perkiomen Watershed’s development of a Perkiomen Creek Water Trail which enhances recreation opportunities along the Perkiomen Creek. The Water Trail map encourages better access to the creek, safe dam portage methods, more recreation support facilities (restrooms, parking, drinking water & food), a wayfinding signage system, trip planning and environmental stewardship.
With the funding from this second grant, the borough will now be sending the park’s paving contract out to bid. Work should then begin on the creek side park this fall.
