80
THE COUNTY’S OPEN SPACE AND RECREATION NETWORK
Recreation Opportunities Available to Montgomery County Residents
For the purposes of gathering information about currently available recreational
opportunities, Montgomery County is subdivided into 12 planning regions. Aided
by a survey in which every municipality was invited to participate, each planning
region was characterized in terms of community parks, active and passive
recreational options available to the public, and the entities providing those
opportunities. A summary of the information gathered is given below in the
Recreational Facilities Overview
.
The region-by-region inventory shows that county residents have access to a fairly
wide variety of active and passive recreational opportunities provided by
governmental entities, not-for-profits, and commercial organizations. In recent
years, municipal recreation planning has moved away from recommended
standards per numbers of people served – the quality and quantity of public parks,
recreation facilities, and natural areas are determined by the priorities and funding
resources of each community. Recreational sites and choices differ within each
planning area because of variations in municipal budgets, community interests,
character of natural features, and market for commercial recreational offerings.
AMBLER CENTRAL
PERK
CONSH-
PLYM MTG
EASTERN
MONTCO
HORSHAM-
WILLOW
GROVE
INDIAN
VALLEY
MAIN LINE-
KING OF
PRUSSIA
NORRISTOWN NORTH
PENN
POTTSTOWN SPRING
FORD
UPPER
PERK
REGION
Population
62,266
41,200
41,707
118,486
71,879
43,109
96,376
98,763
97,957
64,759
44,045
19,327
Community Parks
4
1
5
5
12
4
8
6
8
6
3
2
Regional Parks
None
State; County State; County
County
None
County
National
National; State;
County
State
County
State; County
County
Trails and Biking
Community;
Local
Regional;
Community
Regional;
Community
Regional;
Community
Regional;
Community
Regional;
Community
Regional;
Community
Regional;
Community
Community
Regional
Regional;
Community
Regional
Public Golf
2
None
None
1
1
2
None
3
2
4
4
3
Indoor Recreation
YMCA;
High School
High School
Municipality; High
School
YMCA; High
School
YMCA; High
School
YMCA; High
School
YMCA; High
School
High School
YMCA; High
School
YMCA
YMCA
High School
Fishing/Boating
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Municipal Athletic
Fields
18
6
10
21
20
7
22
16
17
9
5
5
Complementary Sites
13
7
4
20
15
11
14
16
16
14
10
5
Skateboard Areas
1
None
None
2
None
1
None
None
None
1
1
1
Outdoor Swimming
1 Municipal None
None
5 Municipal
1 Municipal
1 Municipal
2 Municipal
Non-profit
5 Municipal
Non-profit
None
YMCA
Dog Parks
None
None
None
2
1
None
1
None
2
1
1
None
FIGURE 52:
Recreational Facilities Overview
Highlights of Recreation Around the County
Each municipality provides at least one public playground, and most provide
multiple sites for various types of recreation. Each planning region includes
biking, hiking, birding, and picnicking opportunities. A YMCA, public high
school, or both, provides indoor recreation in every planning region, and people
can enjoy fishing and boating, public golf, and outdoor swimming in the majority
of these regions. Two increasingly popular recreation amenities, dog parks and
skateboarding areas, are currently found in at least six regions.
Throughout Montgomery County, numbers of public community parks (regarded
as sites of at least 18 to 20 acres providing a variety of recreational activities)
range from more than twice the county-wide average in the Horsham-Willow
Grove planning region to less than 1/3 the average in the Central Perkiomen
planning region. Municipal playing field clusters, which may contain varying
numbers of actual fields, are found in almost every municipality, and are
augmented in each region by a variety of school district, non-profit, and
commercial recreation facilities. The Central Perkiomen, Spring-Ford, and
Conshohocken-Plymouth Meeting planning areas do not include public
opportunities for outdoor swimming.
Source: Montgomery County Planning Commission
