Railroad Avenue Parklet

The Borough of Mechanicsburg is the recipient of a grant in the amount of $110,000 from the Cumberland County Housing and Redevelopment Authority Community Development Block Grant Program. This program is aimed at removing blight and enhancing the quality of life for communities and residents living in low and moderate-income areas. These grant funds are being used to restore a current blight issue, on property owned by the Borough, behind the Messiah Lifeways Senior Center at the intersection of Portland St and Railroad Avenue.

Currently, this space is owned by Mechanicsburg Borough and is essentially a hole in the ground surrounded by barbed wire fencing. The plan to restore the space consists of a total revitalization where the Borough will work to fill the space, seed it, and turn it back into usable green space. On top of that, we plan to install a paved ADA walking path, plant several varieties of native trees and native flowering plants, and install bird houses and bird feeders to promote native wildlife in the area. One of the concerns with this space is that is acts as a current stormwater outfall. This means that water flows into this space from conveyance through the Borough’s stormwater infrastructure and infiltrates, or drains, back into the ground. To solve this issue, we plan to create a basin structure in the new park that will collect the stormwater and allow it to infiltrate back into the ground. In this basin we will include a variety of native pollinator plants to promote and attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators to the space. Additionally, there will be several educational elements to encourage people to find out more about native wildlife and stormwater management. In the end, this park will undergo a massive revitalization to not only remove unsightly blighted property, but to create a new usable green space in the Borough with amenities for all of our residents to enjoy.