Proposal Seeks To Acquire Private Parcels For 'Pocket Park' in Montco

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PA — There is a proposal floating around to acquire a parcel of land in Abington's North Hills neighborhood and turn it into a 'pocket park' for community recreational use.

Abington Township Commissioners will address a move to purchase 118 and 122 Cricket Avenue and combine and convert the neighboring tracts into park space for community members.

The elected officials are scheduled to address the proposal during their meeting on Thursday evening.

According to Abington Township Commissioner Mike Thompson, who represents Ward 6, the municipality is looking to apply for a Department of Community and Economic Development Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program Grant from the state in order to purchase the land.

The grant dollars would be administered by Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Finance Authority.

Thompson put up a post on social media asking nearby residents who are interested in seeing the space converted into a public pocket park to consider attending Thursday's meeting, which will be held in-person at the township building beginning at 7 p.m. and also virtually.

Some residents posted on Facebook that converting the space to public park land would be an improvement over what is currently there.

"That's great news. A new park sounds promising for the community," commented Krystn Kuckelman.

Patch reached out to Thompson, who said that the two parcels are located at a "critical juncture of both sewer and stormwater infrastructure," and that the township's preference is to avoid having buildings located over such infrastructure.

"Acquisition of these two lots would prevent possible future settlement issues on that infrastructure, allow Township access to it, while simultaneously providing an opportunity for a pocket park that could benefit nearby residents," Thompson said.

Patch visited the site, which includes two buildings that appear to be in partial stages of demolition.

The framed walls were open and appear to have been affected by the weather.

An agenda for Thursday's meeting that was posted online shows that commissioners are expected to take a vote to authorize the township to apply for the state grant that would help the process move forward.

The full agenda can be found here.

Information about how to access the meeting virtually can be found here.