Negotiations have ended between Broomall’s Lake Country Club, Media Borough and Delaware County after a decades-long dispute.

As a result, Media’s Glen Providence Park will be safe from flooding, an acre of woods and wetlands will be saved, more jury and county employee parking will be available and the borough will have control over plans for a bridge connecting Media and Upper Providence.

The successful conclusion of negotiations was announced at a March 1 Delaware County Council meeting by Solicitor William Martin.

In dispute was how the country club land, which sits next to Glen Providence Park, should be used.

There was also the issue of whether to rebuild a long-condemned breached dam that served as a traffic bridge on 3^rd Street between Media and Upper Providence.

“This is an issue that has been near and dear to many Media residents for decades,” said Delaware County Councilman Kevin Madden. “As a Media native, it’s tremendously gratifying to finally be ending a 40-year quagmire that protects Glen Providence Park and reconnects these two communities.” 

Under the agreement, the county will purchase a 4-acre conservation easement on the club property.

The agreement dissolves a 2011 stipulation that the dam be reconstructed.  About one acre of the woods and wetlands of Glen Providence Park would have been permanently destroyed had the dam been rebuilt.

The agreement also extends the County’s parking arrangement with the Club, providing overflow parking for jurors and County employees.

The dam was built in 1883 to create a small lake for local residents to harvest ice for produce. The lake later became the centerpiece for The Media Swimming and Rowing Cub created in 1919. That club was renamed Broomall’s Lake Country Club in 1967.

The dam was declared unsafe by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1980 and closed to traffic in 1996 by the Borough of Media.

The club and Glen Providence Park became mired in legal disputes and actions over the years between Media Borough, Broomall’s Lake Country Club, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and local civic organizations.

The disputes had the potential to cost taxpayers millions in litigation and contested actions.

“The County is thrilled that this long-standing litigation has been resolved, and that the County, the Borough of Media, and the Club have reached an agreement after decades,” said Council Vice Chair Elaine Paul Schaefer. “This agreement allows for the continued stability of the Club, preservation of important green space, and for the community to plan, without the cloud of litigation, for the appropriate future of 3rd Street.”

Find out more at the Delaware County Government website.