SITE/CIVIL ENGINEERING AND LAND USE PERMITTING
PHILADELPHIA PARK RACETRACK
Bensalem Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Marathon Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc. (Marathon) was retained by Philadelphia Park/Parx Casino (Parx) to assist with design and permitting of water quality measures for the horse track and farm side of the facility to reduce the amount of nutrients leaving the site through stormwater runoff. As an agricultural use, the Parx horse track facility has a Concentrated Animal Feed Operation (CAFO) Permit issued under the National Point Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program. In 2008, Parx entered into a Consent Order with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PaDEP) establishing a schedule of required site improvements to be incorporated into the horse track/farm operation. The goal of the site improvements was to reduce the amount of nutrients that could contact stormwater runoff and be conveyed offsite. Those measures required design, preparation of plans, and permit applications to be installed and constructed. Projects undertaken include freshwater wetlands mitigation, stormwater inlet filters, construction of a manure storage facility on site, modification of manure handling techniques, reconstruction of barns to move daily horse washing indoors, and interim outdoor horse washing facilities conveying wash water to the sanitary sewer system pending completion of the reconstructed horse barns.
Marathon evaluated the entire horse track facility for sanitary and storm sewer routing and stormwater runoff modeling. We evaluated the existing stormwater management system for upgrades to enhance water quality leaving the site including conversion of a basin to contain bioretention area, use of wetland mitigation area for stormwater treatment, source control by removal of manure and straw from the runoff by filtering prior to discharge to the basins, and removal of horse track sediment through settlement in a forebay of a stormwater basin.
As part of the approval process for the site construction work, Marathon assisted Parx by preparing and submitting the required application documentation for:
- Site Plan approval from the Bensalem Planning Board
- Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Plan Certification from the Bucks County Conservation District
- Sanitary Sewer Planning Module applications pursuant to the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act 537 for sanitary sewer extensions
Client: Parx Casino & Racing
2999 Street Road
Bensalem, PA 19020
Thomas C. Bonner, Group VP/Legal & Chief Counsel (267) 223-3812
Period of Performance:
2008 through present
Key Personnel:
Jason T. Sciullo, PE
Daniel J. Martin