Cranberry parks reopen with changes for safety concerns
CRANBERRY TWP — Cranberry's parks opened Wednesday, but — in the time of the coronavirus pandemic — with some changes.
While the county remains in the yellow phase for reopening, many aspects of the park remain closed. The Rotary Amphitheater, numerous athletic fields, playgrounds and the Sample School House will remain closed until Butler transitions into the state's green reopening phase.
Yet other parts are open to the public: tennis, basketball, sand volleyball and bocce courts; horseshoe pits; the nature trail; and most restrooms.
Social distancing still is encouraged. Unstructured use of the athletic facilities is permitted, for example, but structured team play is not. “The organized activities are not open, except for the tennis and the pickleball and the bocce courts are open, but with single play or with family members only,” township manager Jerry Andree said.
Although several restrooms will remain — at least for the time being — closed, others are open. As part of the township's mitigation strategies, more sanitation will be in place.
“We are opening the restrooms in the parks, at least most of them,” Andree said. “Sanitation is the biggest (mitigation strategy). Public restrooms are being cleaned twice a day.”
In the state's reopening plan, many of the responses in various municipalities to what is or is not allowed to be open has been slow and awkward. Andree said that's because they aren't told before changes to plans are made.
One example is the Cranberry Waterpark, which the township now plans to open June 20. “Unfortunately, for a month or so, we were told the pools could not open until green,” Andree said. “Then one day, the governor said the pools can open in yellow.”
A full list and details on the park's reopening plan are available on the township website.
