HONESDALE BOROUGH, PA — The pedestrian stairs that lead from Riverside Drive to Cliff Street in Honesdale may not be long for this world, as the borough council has begun to consider their partial removal. 

The borough council agreed to have its consultants conduct a title search to confirm who owns the land on which the steps are built. The next steps from there would be for the consultants to put together the specifics of what the borough wants done with the stairs, and send the proposal out for a contractor to bid on. 

The council did not commit itself one way or another to the steps’ final fate. 

The stairs exist in two sections: the first from Riverside Drive to Cottage Avenue, the second from Cottage Avenue to Cliff Street. 

Council member William McAllister suggested the borough remove the upper level of the steps, from Cottage Avenue to Cliff Street, and to return the property which the steps currently occupy to its owners. 

Borough mayor Derek Williams said he would like to know what the cost would be of repairing both sets of stairs before the council decides to potentially remove them. 

McAllister pointed out the guardrail that runs along Cliff Street, which blocks off the top of the stairs from the road, as a potential issue. “I’m not sure that we need to go to the extent of saying, ‘We want to repair something that we can’t use,’” McAllister said. 

“I would just add that that decision to block that set of steps off was a borough council decision,” said Williams. “We could always make a decision to take the guardrail back out.”

“Well, I guess that would be for discussion,” said McAllister.  

A close up of damage to the Cliff Street stairs.

The guardrail along Cliff Street blocks off access to the steps.

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