Gregory park is a small park or “pocket park” located at the intersection of Third Avenue and Easton Road in Hellertown.
One of Hellertown borough’s smaller parks is in need of some tender loving care, and borough council voted Monday to apply for a grant that would pay for much of the cost associated with that.
Gregory Park, which is also known as the Third Avenue playground, is located at the interesection of Third Avenue and Easton Road.
The shady park includes a small playground and a non-regulation size basketball court.
Borough engineer Bryan Smith said Monday that the “sprucing up” plan would include the installation of new fencing around the park, the installation of a safety surface and the replacement of the current basketball court with a half-size, regulation-size court.
Smith said most communities prefer to replace non-regulation size basketball courts with regulation size courts, even if they are half-size.
Several council members however asked that the size of the court be kept as is, since there is already a full-size basketball court at Water Street Park.
“I played hundreds of games on that court,” council vice president Phil Weber said. “It was just a very fun court until it fell apart.”
Hellertown council members requested that the basketball court in Gregory Park remain a full, non-regulation size court after it was suggested that it be turned into a regulation size half-court as part of the planned park improvements.
The grant–if the borough is successful in its application–will cover $230,000 of the approximately $271,000 estimated cost of the improvements.
The other $41,000 would have to be matched by the borough, although it is possible another grant could be used to provide the match.
Smith said the grant application deadline is at the end of May, and that award announcements will be made in September or October, in time for the borough’s 2019 budget planning.
“I think it’s a great opportunity,” council president Tom Rieger said of the grant application.
