York County Disc Golf Club wants to install course at Camp Security in Springetts

• Jeff Grosh, York County Disc Golf Club director estimated it would cost $20,000 to install the course, of which the club would pay $2,000, as well as raise additional funds, and Springettsbury would pay $18,000.

Some local disc golf players want Springettsbury Township to allow a local club to install a new 18-hole course at the site of a Revolutionary War-era prisoner-of-war camp.

But those who fought for years to preserve Camp Security say not so fast.

Township supervisors in June voted to table any decision about allowing the course or helping the York County Disc Golf Club fund the installation.

Club director Jeff Grosh estimated it would cost $20,000 to install the course. He proposed the club would pay $2,000 and Springettsbury would pay $18,000.

Friends of Camp Security President Carol Tanzola, who said in a phone interview she was "pretty upset that nobody thought to contact" her, has been fighting to protect the site "for 16 years."

She said she wasn’t opposed to working with the township or the club; however, all parties need to confirm whether they can build the course or not.

That's subject to the guidelines set forth in the original state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant that protected the land, she said.

She and the township are seeking an original copy, Tanzola said.

If the grant allows it, a disc golf course would benefit the township, Grosh said.

He noted York County is set to host the 2019 Professional Disc Golf Association Amateur Disc Golf World Championships, and the association wants to add two more courses before then.

People from across the United States would stay in local hotels and spend money in local eateries, Grosh said.

The sport is "a free activity that is enjoyed by persons of all ages and skill levels," he said. "It is similar to ball golf but uses a Frisbee or disc."

Grosh described it as throwing a disc from a tee with the objective of landing it in the basket in order to complete the hole.

He noted, "the course needs to be in place and playable at least four months before the tournament." 

“We’d have to get it installed before the end of the year," Grosh said. "It seems rather unlikely."

Tanzola said her organization is awaiting word from Shippensburg University, where professors and students are currently completing geophysical research on Camp Security. That research, she added, will help her group locate its next archaeological dig.

"We're trying to tell a story here," she said. "There was a rescue dig done years ago ...  15,000 artifacts are sitting in the state museum in Harrisburg. There's a lot more there. If the ground is disturbed before we can finish telling the story, it's detrimental to the archaeological nature of the site." 

Township Supervisor Blanda Nace emphasized there is value to what Tanzola's group is doing, but he would also like a realistic timeline to know when land surrounding Camp Security could be utilized by the public either through disc golf or nearby walking trails.

"I love what you're doing ... in an effort to expedite things, would a solution be you take an aerial photo and you can highlight where it's OK to throw Frisbees?" Nace asked. "Can we work together?"