Hollidaysburg resident Scott Hammond (right) shares some ideas with Borough Manager Ethan Imhoff.

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Hollidaysburg Borough residents voiced their opinions about the enhancement of two local parks Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at the borough’s open house public event.

Borough Manager Ethan Imhoff said he wanted to provide residents with an opportunity to offer input and ideas about what Mattern Orchard Park and Sweet Cherry Court Park should look like in the next 25 years.

With input from a previous park survey sent out last year to community members, he said Tuesday night was step two in enhancing their public parks.

“Things work best when you hear from the community and implement their ideas,” he said. “It’s important for people who live close by and are going to use these spaces every day.”

According to Imhoff, both Mattern Orchard Park and Sweet Cherry Court Park were built 25 years ago, resulting in aged-out infrastructure, such as the age of Sweet Cherry Court Park’s playground and the removal of Mattern Orchard Park’s playground.

“We need to make some investments,” he said.

After getting community input, he said the borough will dig into further deliberation with work staff about what improvements can be made to the two parks. Some options may be cost-prohibitive, he said, so they will make decisions based on pricing and long term maintenance.

Last year, the borough approved a 0.15 Parks and Recreation millage increase to conduct maintenance on all six local parks, according to Mirror reports. Imhoff said Tuesday evening that additional funding will be used to make improvements.

They’re looking at investing $100,000 to $200,000 into park improvements, he said. Final designs will be created for community members to view and give their blessing.

He said parks are an important part of infrastructure, as it adds to the quality of life.

“It adds property values, it adds quality of life, people like living close to green spaces for their kids to go and play,” he said.

Park plans

A handful of Hollidaysburg residents were present when Tuesday night’s meeting opened at 6 p.m.

Two overhead images of Mattern Orchard Park and Sweet Cherry Court Park were blown up and hung on the borough’s boardroom wall, where residents could place sticky notes with suggestions.

Resident Niki Hoover said she came to the meeting to find out what is happening with her nearby park, Mattern Orchard Park.

She suggested seeing more playground equipment for both children and adults, including an air walker glider, which is something her grandchild used at another park in North Dakota.

To bring the idea to Mattern Orchard Park, she showed Imhoff a few photos of her grandchild using the air walker glider installed at the North Dakota park.

Installing an adult playground will positively impact Hollidaysburg residents, as many are older and/or bring their children or grandchildren to the park.

“And especially when I do take my grandson down there, there’s not enough for me to do,” she said. “I could be doing something too when he’s there.”

Resident Judy Clendenin, who also uses Mattern Orchard Park, said she wants to see a new playground installed for children to play outdoors and a pavilion to host picnics.

She was unsure why the borough tore down the playground, so she called them twice about future plans. She participated in the survey and continued to voice her suggestions at Tuesday evening’s meeting.

“You can complain about whatever gets done, (or) you can put your opinion in and hopefully somebody’s listening,” she said.

Making some enhancements to Sweet Cherry Court Park could draw more people to the green space, according to resident Scott Hammond.

The playground could be updated for safety reasons, he said, and trash cans are a positive feature for parks to limit littering.

“It’s always nice to have dedicated places for kids to be able to go,” he said.

He said an open-house public forum was a great way to get community feedback while not intimidating the residents about future plans, he said.

“It’s a good form to at least initiate, seeing where you want to go with things,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.