HONESDALE BOROUGH, PA — Honesdale is now accepting applications from citizens interested in joining a parks commission, following a vote authorizing the same at the borough council’s September 24 meeting. That commission is reforming at the same time as a separate group of citizens is working with the borough on a $400,000 project to put a playground in Honesdale’s Central Park.

The parks commission is an unelected advisory body for the elected borough council; the council also has a parks and rec committee, formed of elected borough council members.

Introducing the commission, council member James Hamill said that the borough formerly had a parks commission, and that he served on the commission prior to serving on council. Hamill said that around three years ago, when action was taken to “clarify” the bylaws of the commission, the majority of the commission’s members stepped aside, and the remaining member was added to the parks and rec committee.

“With the advent of some things with the playground project and some other things… it would seem that maybe there would be a helpful next step in reestablishing that as an advisory commission—purely advisory—and allowing folks to serve on that,” he said.

He added, “I think that reestablishing that with folks from a broad spectrum of the community would be really helpful.”

The playground project—an effort from a group of community members organized as the People’s Playground Project (PPP) to design, fundraise for and install a playground in Honesdale’s Central Park—has come under fire from Hamill in the past. In April, Hamill voted against partnering with the PPP, citing the possible exclusion of voices from the PPP’s survey and design process.

“Did we survey everyone who cares for that bigger space… or [did] it really more narrowly [survey] the group of parents, teens, children and the like?” Hamill asked.

Organizer Lisa Glover—who, herself, served on the prior iteration of the parks commission—said the survey process included online surveys with general, open-ended questions, and found overwhelming support for a playground in Central Park.

In communications with the River Reporter following the August 24 meeting, Glover said she expected the PPP’s work to be vetted by the new parks commission. “The PPP is happy to work with anyone who cares about parks and values collaboration,” she said.

Speaking with the River Reporter in mid-August, Honesdale Borough Council President Pat Resti emphasized that April’s vote on partnering with the PPP approved only a conceptual plan, as a guideline.

A set of swings has already been ordered and will be installed shortly; according to the PPP, a groundbreaking ceremony for the swings is imminent, though no precise date has yet been set. According to Resti, “Nothing else will happen unless it’s approved by the council.”

Resti said that, while the conceptual design has been approved, the purchase or installation of new equipment needs to be individually approved. “I think there’s potential for change” to the conceptual plan, Resti said. “I can’t put a percentage on it, nor will I, but I think there’s the potential for change.”

The parks commission application form is available at the borough’s website at honesdaleborough.com/now-accepting-applications.