The Intergovernmental Stormwater Committee will comply with a demand by leaders of the Hollidaysburg American Legion for a permanent fence along a stretch of the Beaverdam Branch of the Juniata River that was recently widened and made accessible in a flood plain restoration behind the Legion’s Dell Delight Park.

The goal for the fence is to prevent young children who come to the park with their families for baseball games from drowning in the river.

Parents of those children are usually intent on watching the games, and often pay less attention to the young ones, who now have easy access to a river that was once much narrower and hidden by trees, but that now is inviting and openly dangerous — with a seven-foot drop to the water and potentially strong currents, depending on the weather, according to Legion Post Vice Commander Dave Woleslagle.

Once a kid is in the water, it’s likely no one would notice until it was too late, Woleslagle said.

The committee has already installed temporary plastic fencing, but kids knocked it down, according to park manager Dennis Hare.

The Legion’s demand triggered an informal consensus among committee members to install a 740-foot-long cattle fence just outside the river’s floodway with up to four horizontal strands — but no vertical ones, to ensure that the fence wouldn’t trap debris during flooding.

But on the suggestion of committee solicitor Patrick Fanelli, the committee postponed an official action until he can put together a draft agreement between the committee and Legion that would specify not only details about the fence, but also settle issues of maintenance, liability and an easement that would be designed to protect monuments, a pavilion and other features that might otherwise be threatened by Phase 2 of the project.

“Something to ensure all issues are addressed in a comprehensive way,” Fanelli said.

Phase 1 resulted in the loss of several acres, “taken without our knowledge,” Woleslagle said, expressing concerns about the proposed second phase, which would extend downstream to a point approximately adjacent to Justice Street.

The committee mustn’t infringe on the park’s monuments, said committee member Henry Fownes.

But it probably doesn’t need to worry, because Phase 2 is not likely to get done, Fownes said.

Committee stormwater coordinator Chelsea Weyant has obtained quotes from a couple of companies for installation of the wire fencing, and Logan Township Manager Tim Brown got a quote for material only from the township’s Highway Department, thinking that volunteers could complete the installation.

Based on the estimates, the fencing would cost from a couple to several thousand dollars.

There was a discussion at the meeting about whether to plant vegetation under or surrounding the fence, but committee member Frank Hicks recommended against it, to ensure that nothing would block the view through the fence, in case kids get behind it, and also for ease of maintenance and aesthetics.

The park staff plans to mow right up to the fence, but not beyond, according to a park official.

Committee member Doug Brown isn’t convinced that a fence is necessary or ideal.

“I think it does a disservice to kids,” said Brown, who has two children of his own. “We encourage kids to go out into nature, and now we’re restricting access.”

The river is “an asset” for people to enjoy, he said.

Moreover, if a kid gets behind the fence and gets in trouble, it will now be harder for a parent to get through to help, he said.

There are laws that protect landowners like the Legion, he said, but clarified he was speaking only for himself and that he understands and appreciates the Legion’s concerns.

It’s not the committee’s place to tell the Legion how to run its park, he said.

Still, he would like the agreement to make clear that the fence is “(the Legion’s) baby, not ours,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.