Media Borough is again seeking public input about the Broomall’s Dam/Third Street Project. If built, a new dam would have a devastating impact to the northern end of Glen Providence Park.

Recognizing the threat of this project to its county-owned park, Delaware County Council has declined to sign a PennDOT environmental document stating that the project would have “no adverse impact” to Glen Providence Park. In addition, neither the County, the Borough, nor Broomall’s Lake Country Club has agreed to sign as owner of the dam to get a PA DEP permit to build it. As a result, the project is on hold, and its outcome is uncertain.

Media Borough’s Open Space, Parks & Recreation Advisory Committee will be launching a public survey online, seeking input on priorities, facilities, programs, and budget allocation.

Two of the questions will be about Broomall’s Dam, which was partially removed by the PA DEP in 2017:

1. Whether there should be a new dam — or a bridge over a restored stream — at Third Street
2. What type of roadway should connect Media and Upper Providence

The questions are labeled under “Third Street Dam” in Section Three of the survey, “Programs & Facilities. ” The link to the survey will be going live the week of December 21 and will remain active through February: http://metroquestsurvey.com/xe5n5d The survey itself is space-restricted, and gives minimal information. As anyone who has been following this project knows, the legal case and underlying issues are complex.

Some important points:

• A new dam is not necessary for a roadway. A bridge could instead reconnect Media and Upper Providence, and would be drastically less damaging to Glen Providence Park than a dam. We believe there should be community input into whether that is a one-way, two-way, or pedestrian and bike roadway.

• While a new dam would again retain water, it would not fully restore Broomall’s Lake. The lake had filled with sediment since it was formed by Broomall’s Dam in 1883, diminishing from a depth of 30-40 feet to an estimated 8 feet. Expensive dredging would be needed to restore the lake. The past president of Broomall’s Lake Country Club stated at a public meeting that the Club would sue Media Borough to pay for that dredging after the dam is built.

• The new dam would, however, destroy the northern end of Glen Providence Park. According to a site visit with the engineer who designed the dam, earthfill to create the new, larger dam would bury the northern end of the park. The new dam would extend over 70′ farther downstream than the previous dam, filling in wetlands and natural springs, and encasing the waterfall and stream in concrete, including – and past – the masonry footer from one of the park’s original footbridges. The construction area would be larger than an acre, with more than 70 mature trees removed. For dam safety reasons, the massive new dam slope, and a 10’ perimeter past it, could not be replanted with anything but closely mowed grass. What is currently a serene, wooded entrance to the park would look like a highway exit berm.

• The new dam would be classified as a high hazard dam. Under legal definitions, this classification is due to the potential loss of life and property at the homes downstream of the park, in the event of a dam breach. This does not even take into consideration the danger to anyone using the park. With “100 year” weather events happening with increased frequency, we take this threat seriously.

Friends of Glen Providence Park organized in July 2011 in response to the threat to Glen Providence from the proposed dam, and we have continued to advocate to minimize the project’s damage to the park’s wetlands, wildlife, and plants. You can see photos of the section of the park that would be destroyed on our website in our 1.1 Acre Project.

To minimize destruction to the park, Friends of Glen Providence Park continues to support dam removal, stream restoration, and a local discussion of an environmentally-sensitive bridge between Media Borough and Upper Providence.

For more information, explore the Third Street Project overview and the many Dam/Bridge articles on our website.

On Wednesday, February 22 at 6pm, at the Media Borough Parlor Room, area residents will have an opportunity to hear from the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in a Public Informational Meeting about the planned partial breach of Broomall’s Dam, currently scheduled for April 30th.

The partial breach will reduce the safety hazard of the orphaned dam which is in severe disrepair.

However, the partial breach will render the road impassable to pedestrians and bicycles in addition to cars for two years or more, until the proposed dam reconstruction is complete. With no parties yet willing to claim ownership of the current or proposed dam, it is uncertain how long this pre-construction phase will last.

Temporary Pedestrian Bridge?

Friends of Glen Providence Park has requested Media Borough Council to consider the construction of a temporary pedestrian bridge during this pre-construction phase. We feel it is in the best interest of Media Borough and Upper Providence to maintain this connection.

Why maintain the connection:

• Safety: We are concerned that people will attempt to find a way to cross the breach that is unsafe.
• Economics: Many people walk to Media for shopping and great events like Dining Under the Stars. Some people commute to work from UP to Media on foot — across Broomall’s Dam on 3rd Street!
• Community: 3rd Street is a valuable connection between Upper Providence and Media neighbors and activities.
• Best Practices: It is a PennDOT recommendation in their Design Manual to continue pedestrian access during construction (Chapter 6.14, Pedestrian Facilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act, 2012.).
• Time: 2-3 years is a long time to have this connection broken.

If you’d like to see a temporary pedestrian bridge, please come to the meeting and make your voice heard.

In addition, it is our understanding that the 3rd Street entrance to the park will be closed while the DEP is removing the dam, which is expected to take about 60 days.

Be informed! You can read an overview and history of the 3rd Street Project, with links to past articles, in the menu above. And you can learn much more about the 3rd Street project and Broomall’s Dam, and find detailed information about the partial dam removal by reading our past articles in the Dam/Bridge Category – and by exploring the Tags – on the right.

Friends of Glen Providence Park continues to support dam removal and stream restoration with an environmentally sensitive connection between Upper Providence and Media, which will minimize damage to the park. 

Broomall’s Dam on Third Street is often called a “bridge.” In fact, it is a high hazard dam with a road on top of it. Some people focus exclusively on reopening the road while ignoring the economic, environmental, and public safety consequences of replacing and maintaining a high hazard dam.

Replacing Broomall’s Dam is:

• UNSAFE
A newly constructed dam will be classified as “Level 1 High Hazard.” This classification has nothing to do with the dam’s condition. It means that dam failure could result in the loss of human life and extensive property damage.

No matter how much care is taken during construction, a 29 foot tall earthen dam has inherent risks. Do we really want a high hazard dam above a public park where our neighbors, children and families will be at risk?

• UNNECESSARY
Most taxpayer funded dams are built for a compelling public purpose such as producing electricity, storing a large volume of drinking water, or providing public recreation. Replacing Broomall’s Lake dam will provide NO public benefit at all.

• UNFAIR
Supporters of replacing Broomall’s Dam want to spend up to $4 million of taxpayers’ money to preserve a small lake for a private Country Club. At the same time, replacing the dam will permanently damage a section of a public park and a stream. Spending public dollars for private gain and public loss is unfair.

Removing the dam would settle these issues once and for all, replacing a burden with a gift for future generations.

Friends of Glen Providence Park wants our public officials to:

• REMOVE the dam
The leadership of the Friends of Glen Providence Park is calling to remove – rather than replace – Broomall’s Dam. Removing the dam will preserve valuable natural wetlands and allow for reforestation of the north section of the park.

Across Pennsylvania and the United States, dams are being removed and streams are being restored as an economic and environmental best practice. Removing the dam is the best economic, environmental, and public safety policy.

• RESTORE the stream
Before Judge Broomall built a dam on his property in 1883, the stream of Broomall’s Run flowed unimpeded to Ridley Creek.

Removing the dam will restore Broomall’s Run to its natural state, allowing for improved water quality, greater connectivity for wildlife, and healthy sediment flow.

The restored stream will descend 29 feet in a series of natural waterfalls, creating a babbling brook surrounded by trees – a beautiful setting for both the park and the Country Club.

• RECONNECT neighbors
We don’t need to replace the dam to connect Media and Upper Providence; we can remove the dam and build a bridge for that purpose.

Friends of Glen Providence Park supports an environmentally sensitive design that connects the two municipalities and encourages a community dialogue about bridge options.

This is the text of the flyers that Friends of Glen Providence Park distributed around Media Borough in the summer of 2013. For the text of the dam removal flyer we distributed in winter 2012, click here. 

Learn more about:

Broomall’s Dam history and news on our website, using the Categories, Tags and Search feature to the right, and menu bar above, for information including:
– Our position on dam removal
– Documentation of the 1.1 Acre of park that would be destroyed by dam replacement

Dam removal locally and nationally at www.americanrivers.org

The Third Street Project on the Media Borough website: www.mediaborough.org/publicworks

Third Street Dam Safety Workshop

Monday, August 20, 4:30-6:00 p.m.

At the dam site

Is the dam safe for now?

We encourage park users, those who live downstream and schools and community groups who use the park to attend and learn about how the dam operates, why the dam has been deemed unsafe, and what measures are or should be in place to protect people downstream in the event of an emergency. Mr. Reisinger will discuss dam basics as well as an evaluation of the current dam’s safety, and what measures citizens and those downstream can take to ensure their own personal safety. He will discuss the requirements for an Emergency Action Plan (EAP). The Third Street Dam is a high hazard dam in poor condition. After reconstruction it will continue to be a high hazard dam due to its potential impacts on human life in the case of failure.

Delaware County, BLCC and Media Borough invited to attend

Media Borough Engineer Bob Johnston will attend, and at this time no other officials or BLCC leadership have responded. Currently Broomall’s Lake Country Club operates the dam, and it is presumed that they will continue to be the operators. Delaware County and Broomall’s Lake Country Club, according to the stipulation, will be sharing responsibility for the dam after reconstruction;  Media Borough will maintain the roadway atop the dam.

Bring Questions

There will be ample time for questions and answers, and we are thankful to Mr. Reisinger for taking the time to educate our community about the state of the Third Street Dam.