By Marilyn Forbes

Published: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 9:10 p.m.
Updated: Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Willows Park in Mt. Pleasant is getting a facelift as work continues to expand the parking areas and to enhance other features there, borough officials said.

“We want to attract more families to come and use the park and the facilities,” said borough Mayor Jerry Lucia. “It's getting a much-needed upgrade.”

Employees of the borough's street department have been completing the parking area expansion, which involves removal of portions of the park's west bank and the placement of additional stone for spaces.

“We're working now and we'll continue as long as the weather allows us to,” said Dan Dean, an employee of the borough's street department. “The parking area is going to be bigger and it's going to be much more uniform.”

There were also additional parking spaces added to the uppermost end of the park.

“There have been issues with the parking at Willows from time to time over the years, and we are hoping that all the new parking will help to alleviate that problem,” Landy said.

The borough is covering the cost of materials required to create the new parking areas, Landy said.

The park has been a family spot for decades, borough officials said.

They hope that, with the planned upgrades, more families will use the two pavilions that are located there.

“We are planning to upgrade the electric (wiring) in the big pavilion,” said borough Manager Jeff Landy. “That was an issue and we are hoping that the new upgrades will solve that problem.”

The borough also plans to replace the restroom facilities located near the pavilions.

“We want to build new restrooms that will be more easily accessible,” Lucia said. “The ones that we have now have always been a problem for the elderly and for the handicapped. We want to build ones that are closer and easier for everyone to walk to.”

The borough plans to purchase the necessary materials for the new restrooms, Landy said, but borough officials are hoping they can make arrangements for a volunteer group or organization to perform the required labor at no cost.

“We are making some contacts and looking into ways that would help to defer the costs,“ Landy said. “They need replaced. It's difficult for people to walk up that hill.”

Lucia said it's a priority of borough officials to keep the borough's parks maintained.

“We want to keep doing what we can, when we can, to keep our parks nice and family-friendly,” Lucia said. “We have some great parks here in Mt. Pleasant and we want to keep making them better for everyone to enjoy.”

Marilyn Forbes is a freelance writer.

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