On Monday, May 19, 2025, Councilman Alex Myers presented a design for Hatboro’s upcoming ADA Playground. This playground is funded partially through a federal grant awarded through HUD that was obtained by the Borough with the help of Congresswoman Madeleine Dean.

This playground was approved for funding through a federal grant of $460,000 received through Representative Madeleine Dean’s office. It has taken some time for this project to get started, as it was publicly shared back in 2021 that the grant award had been included in the 2022 federal budget. We
appreciate everyone’s patience as this project has taken some time to get into the pipeline for forward movement. In this presentation, we will be sharing the design for the playground itself along with our expected next steps. Thank you to Councilwoman Hendrickson and her family for the additional help with creating this finalized design. With inclusiveness as a goal, we hope to bring a playground to Hatboro that recognizes and is responsive to the fact that our residents and visitors may come from different abilities, backgrounds, and needs. We work to treat everyone with respect and fairness in Hatboro, and what better way to promote empathy, understanding, and friendship than through a meaningfully designed playground.

The Borough has previously had an engineering study completed for the site, which is currently under review to see if it fits the grant parameters. At this point, we have received the necessary logon information for the grant portal, and staff have begun work on entering requested information through the initial checkpoints. We are not yet at the point of putting the installation of the project out to public bid, but we will continue with any available updates as the project progresses. Our initial overall budget for this playground is being updated as the cost of the equipment and installation has increased since this was first submitted for consideration, and additional elements have been added to increase the inclusivity of this project. We are currently gathering updated quotes for the equipment and surface areas, which will then be used to gather at least three bids for the cost of the installation. Since we have not yet put that part of the project out to bid, we are not yet sharing an estimate of those costs, but we do anticipate that the overall costs will exceed the original grant award of $460,000. When ready to move forward with fundraising to cover the gap, we plan to form a playground committee that will be tasked with those efforts. They will be on the lookout for local partnerships, additional grants, and/or fundraising opportunities for the installation of both phases of the overall project.

We plan to dedicate the playground in memory of Edna Mae Massamilla. A former resident of Hatboro and member of Lehman Memorial Methodist Church, Edna utilized her faith and creative inspiration to
advocate for the disability community throughout her life. As an internationally known poet, author, and musician, Edna also corresponded with late President John F. Kennedy about legislation for those in need. Along with her husband, John, Edna published numerous books, brochures, and articles, and frequently contributed to the Public Spirit Newspaper. Edna was still working on several publications up until a week before her passing in 2021 at the age of 104.