Most of a former Springfield Township horse rescue has been given to the Nixon County Park in Jacobus, with plans to extend a greenway and create a natural play area.

The York County Parks Foundation Charitable Trust donated about 16 acres of the former Lost & Found Horse Rescue, 852 Valley Road, to the county during a commissioners meeting Wednesday.

The trust, which raises money for parks, bought the 17.48-acre property for $380,000 in 2010; the horse rescue relocated that year because it couldn't raise the money to buy the property.

It originally included a farmhouse and barns, but the property was subdivided into two parcels: the 16-acre plot and the 1.1 acres with the house.

The trust sold the parcel with the house for $169,000, said Tammy Klunk, executive director of the Department of Parks and Recreation.

About $4,500 was also recovered by selling the barn and structures to Amish farmers who removed them from the site, she said.

Klunk said one section of the land has already been converted to trails and opened to the public.

The project: Plans include an extension of the Hollow Creek Greenway, connecting it to Kain County Park so hikers and bikers can avoid the public road, she said.

Park officials also plan to convert part of the land into unpaved overflow

parking and a natural play area where children could explore nature through natural features, she said.

But Klunk said those plans are on hold for about three years, until a stream running through the property can be repaired from years of animal grazing.

There's a grant in place to complete the work, but it's not expected to be completed until about 2015, she said.

-- Reach Christina Kauffman at ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.