In 2021 the city tore the concrete out of the Gingrich Memorial Pool, closed since the numbers no longer justified lifeguards and chemicals, and left a fenced rectangle of dirt sitting empty in the middle of Coleman Memorial Park. This past June 6, that same rectangle reopened as Lebanon County's first off-leash dog park, mulched, gated, and split down the middle for small dogs and big ones, according to LebTown's report. Nothing was added to the park's 99 acres. Something old came out and something new went in on the exact same footprint, and Coleman Park has seen other amenity changes in recent years.
The park has had a master site plan on paper since 2011, refreshed with community input in 2023 by Simone Collins Landscape Architecture, the same firm that wrote the original. But the actual work on the ground hasn't looked like a single overhaul. The Coleman Memorial Park Board of Trustees has instead overseen projects that adapt areas no longer in use for amenities residents have requested.
The Pool That Became a Dog Run
The dog park had been talked about for years before it had a shovel in the ground. Plans were first announced in January 2025, construction broke ground later that year, and an unusually rainy season pushed the original summer 2025 target into 2026. When it finally opened, Mayor Sherry Capello told LebTown the project was about more than letting dogs run. She framed it as a gathering place for residents who don't have big yards, which is most of the city.
The park's opening also brought a phased registration period. For the first 30 days, the park was open only to Lebanon city residents, a restriction the mayor attributed directly to how much interest the project drew before it even opened. After that window, registration opened to non-city residents too, but at a different price: $30 a year for city residents covering up to two dogs, $45 a year for everyone outside the city, and $10 per year for each additional dog beyond two. Together, those fees set the terms for access after the initial city-only period.
The Tennis Courts That Became Pickleball Courts
A year before the dog park opened, the same trustees unveiled four pickleball courts on a different patch of unused ground: tennis courts near the amphitheater that had, in the trustees' own description, fallen out of repair and out of use. Trustee Joe Morales explained the board's logic to LebTown at the June 2025 unveiling: maintenance needs come first, and after that the board looks at what residents are actually asking for. Pickleball, he said, was an easy call once they noticed the sport's national growth and realized the county didn't have a dedicated place to play it.
The courts were paid for through a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant, secured with help from state Rep. John Schlegel's office, layered with American Rescue Plan Act funds distributed by the Lebanon County Commissioners and topped off with donations. That's the same funding pattern as the dog park: no single bond issue, no one line item, just a stack of state, county, and community money assembled project by project. Net dividers were installed between the courts specifically to keep stray balls from interrupting neighboring games, a detail that only matters if you've actually stood there waiting for a rally to end. The courts got their first real test on August 30, 2025, when a two-division tournament, novice and intermediate against advanced, drew sixteen teams at $80 per team, organized with help from advisor Justin Tice.
Here's how the two projects compare:
| What was removed | Timing / prior condition | What replaced it | Year opened | Primary funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gingrich Memorial Pool | 2021 (demolished) | Off-leash dog park | June 2026 | City, plus sponsorships |
| Unused tennis courts | Fallen into disrepair | Pickleball courts (4) | June 2025 | PA DCNR grant, county ARPA funds, donations |
What's Underneath All of It
Not everything at Coleman Park is new. The 1.6-mile trail that winds through the property predates every ribbon cutting on this list, and it runs through something older than the park itself: the standing ruins of the North Lebanon Furnace, sitting on land the Coleman and Block families donated to the city back in 1935 specifically so it could become a public park. The trail combines off-road sections with existing walkways, and the same 99 acres that hold the dog park and pickleball courts also draw birdwatchers tracking species against an eBird checklist. The trail and historic ruins remain part of the park alongside its newer amenities.
How the Park's Next Projects Take Shape
The trustees don't just pick projects. As of August 2025, they also run the logistics that used to belong to the city, including pavilion rentals, which now go entirely through the park's own website instead of city hall. That shift matters because it confirms something the funding pattern already suggested: Coleman Memorial Park operates with real independence from City Council, even though the land itself belongs to the city. Projects get greenlit when the board decides maintenance is caught up and a specific ask has enough grant money, county funds, or sponsor interest behind it to pencil out.
The next thing in the queue isn't concrete at all. In early June 2026, the trustees announced they're pursuing arboretum accreditation for the park, having already completed the first stage of a full tree inventory. It's a different kind of project than a pool or a tennis court, no fencing, no ribbon cutting, just documentation. But it follows the same logic as everything else on this list: identify an asset the park already has, in this case its stands of aging shade trees, and formalize it into something residents can point to.
If you use Coleman Park regularly, the 2023 master plan update is one resource for following plans, while these projects show how the park's amenities have changed.
If you're weighing what a project like this means for a home near Coleman Park, or just curious how these kinds of civic changes tend to move property conversations in Lebanon, Sarah Lingle is a good person to ask. Schedule a free consultation and bring your questions about the neighborhood, not just the listing.
