{"id":78274,"date":"2026-01-05T13:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78274\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T13:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:18:10","slug":"penn-pump-dam-removal-turf-fields-are-part-of-bushkill-creek-greenways-draft-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/78274\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn Pump dam removal, turf fields are part of Bushkill Creek greenway\u2019s draft plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

A plan<\/a> to improve the Bushkill Creek and its surroundings through Palmer Township is nearing the finish line.<\/p>\n

And among the proposals in the draft plan is a call for the removal of the dam at Penn Pump Park.<\/p>\n

The 39-page Bushkill Creek Greenway<\/a> draft plan was discussed at the Dec. 9 Palmer Township Planning Commission meeting. It\u2019s been in the works since March.<\/p>\n

The final draft is nearing completion, according to Palmer Township Director of Planning Craig Beavers. He said one more public survey is slated before a final draft is issued. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe draft will be released after the holidays for public review,\u201d Beavers said in December. \u201cThere will be a final public presentation at the March 2 board of supervisors<\/a> meeting, along with a vote for adoption.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan aims to maximize the creek\u2019s history, ecological resources and recreational amenities. It highlights the creek as a community resource while minimizing its risk of flooding.<\/p>\n

Among the plan\u2019s suggestions is a call to remove a dam at Penn Pump Park. According to the study, the dam is obsolete and ought to be removed to restore the natural flow of the stream. Five similar dams downstream have been removed<\/a> or are slated for removal.<\/p>\n

But the Penn Pump Park dam has been a popular swimming hole<\/a> for generations. Currents at the bottom of the dam are strong<\/a> and can lead to drownings, presenting another reason why officials are calling for its removal.<\/p>\n

The creek plan also calls for synthetic athletic fields with drainage systems at Mill Race Park. The natural grass soccer fields there often flood. Synthetic fields would drain more quickly after storms and make the fields available more quickly.<\/p>\n

The township hired the landscape architectural firm Omnes of Easton to compile the plan. The owner of Omnes couldn\u2019t be reached in late December for comment.<\/p>\n

The December draft plan is available for review online<\/a> through palmertwp.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A plan to improve the Bushkill Creek and its surroundings through Palmer Township is nearing the finish line.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-78274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}