By
ANNIE TASKER
Today, Tanner Park is a swath of open space with a basketball court, a few picnic tables and two bouncing spring toys.
A group of Hatboro residents wants to turn it into something better.
The borough's Elm Street revitalization committee, community theater group Village Players and the Hatboro-Horsham Kiwanis Club are teaming up to bring state-of-the-art, handicapped-accessible benches and playground equipment to the park, which is on Summit Avenue.
The project, which has been in the works about a year, is still in the planning stages. The groups will start seeking donations once the concept has been laid out on paper, Elm Street committee president John Farnen said. The playground equipment is expected to cost between $35,000 and $50,000, not including installation. But a total cost has yet to be determined, Farnen said. The group will work on the park in stages as money comes in.
The Elm Street committee was formed in 2006 to improve the Jacksonville Road area using grants, funds and donations. The group — made up of borough officials, residents and business owners — works closely with Main Street Hatboro, a revitalization group with a focus on the borough's downtown.
Farnen's vision of the new Tanner Park is a smaller version of Horsham's Everybody's Playground, which has play equipment designed to accommodate handicapped children. Plans for the new park also include a small stage for performances, new fencing and a covered picnic pavilion. Also included would be a lighted, paved walkway leading to the park and the adjacent Village Players building from Springdale Avenue.
That pathway would also be a fundraising opportunity for the project. Engraved bricks are being sold for $50 each and sales have been going surprisingly well since the fundraiser began recently, said Kiwanis Club member Tom McMackin.
The lighted walkway would provide some security for people who park along the street for Village Players performances and have to walk back to their cars in the dark, he said. It may have the added benefit of encouraging people to park on surrounding streets so the park's neighbors don't have many cars outside their homes during a theater performance, he said.
While plans for what should go in the new park have yet to be nailed down, there is a clear idea of what shouldn't go there. The old wooden playground equipment has been cleared to make way for the project.
McMackin said when he served on the council years ago, the recently removed equipment was brought to Tanner Park to replace other equipment that had started to look run down.
“I feel some responsibility to replace that equipment again,” he said, laughing.
The area's history has also brought the park close to McMackin's heart, since that land once stood next to an old milk bottling plant that eventually became the Village Players building. He said he hopes to add something about that to the Tanner Park sign if it is ever replaced.
“It's a great little park,” McMackin said. “And it can be very attractive if we get the right equipment in there.”
Annie Tasker can be reached at (215) 957-8167 or atasker@phillyBurbs.com.
