Denton Hill State Park in Potter County is one step closer to being revitalized.
State officials plan to unveil the master plan early this year that will include proposed design plans for infrastructure investment that carries out the goal of four-season park operations at the park that sits along U.S. Route 6 between Coudersport and Galeton.
“The master plan and redesign process, which will span several years, includes the master planning, design, and the implementation process,” Park Manager Ben Stone said. “The master plan is the first step toward the creation of a rehabilitated facility.”
In early 2017, Labella Associates, an architectural, engineering and environmental planning consultant firm, started to work on the master plan.
Key stakeholders met in June and talked about master plan objectives, findings associated with additional infrastructure needs, as well as progress related to site development, lodge rehabilitation and the mountain recreation planning component of the master plan.
Officials also plan on holding two more meetings in the late winter or early spring, Stone said, adding that the first is a preliminary review of the plan with key stakeholders and then a public meeting.
“We all look forward to the next step in the process which will be to advance into the design phase. Final design will be influenced by specifications laid out in the master plan,” Stone said.
Labella Associates’ efforts are a continuation of the work completed by Moshier Studio of Pittsburgh.
A feasibility study stated that to address current issues and poise the park for many years of service, $12.6 million to $13 million in capital improvements would be needed. In addition, the park would require at least 12,500 visitors during the winter each year –– at about $42 per visitor –– for successful concessionaire operations, according to a feasibility study.
What could the park have that would allow it to compete with other resorts? Perhaps weddings, ziplines, mountain biking, golf, Eurobungy, climbing wall, laser tag, geocaching, festivals, boating, alpine slides and batting cages, the study reads.
Denton Hill State Park opened as a ski area in 1958, and the state operated it until 1979. The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources had signed a 35-year concession lease agreement with Denton Hill Family and Ski Resort Inc. in 1983. In 2014, the concessionaire shuttered skiing operations at the state park.
For more information, see www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/DentonHillStatePark.
