Covering 24 acres in Mount Joy, Little Chiques Park provides recreational opportunities including fishing, picnicking and birding. To make the park even more enjoyable for the public, the Mount Joy Borough Park Advisory Board has created a survey, encouraging residents to submit their feedback on what enhancements they'd like to see on the property.

The survey is part of a master plan to update and improve the park, located at 229 Park Ave., and the surrounding area, said David Christian, a member of the committee. "We didn't want the results of what we recommended to our borough council to just be coming from our board of seven people," he explained. "We want to seek community input. The park is used pretty heavily by our residents, so we wanted them to be involved in the process of telling us what they want this park to be."

The borough has hired a consultant, York-based YSM Landscape Architects, to prepare the master plan. Questions on the community survey, which is anonymous and brief, include input on the types of active and passive recreational opportunities people would like to see added to or improved upon at the park.

Currently, the park features walking paths, multiple pavilions that can be rented for birthday parties or other gatherings, a nine-hole disc golf course, a small children's play area, charcoal grills and more. Several local churches routinely hold services in the park. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission as well as other local organizations stock trout in the creek that borders the park.

Christian, who lives adjacent to the park, said he's seen firsthand how much use the park gets. "It's a great passive respite," he said. "It's quiet. It's well-kept and maintained. It's just a great, quiet little place within the boundaries of the nice little village of Mount Joy."

Long-term plans for the area around the park include a stream bank revitalization project already in progress as well as a large-scale initiative that would lead to further park improvements, Christian said.

"This park is part of the Emerald Necklace plan, which is a circuitous hiking and biking trail all the way around the perimeter of Mount Joy," he said. "That's just a glimmer in everybody's eyes at this point. However, there has been some talk recently here of maybe moving forward with the first phase, and the first phase could be Little Chiques Park."

In the meantime, the committee members hope people will take a few minutes to complete the survey, said Alyssa Zevallos. "As a community member, this is your way to have influence on what we're doing here," she commented. "It's not just the borough spending money on things. ... We need to know what people are looking for. Otherwise, we might build something thinking this will be great, and the people will say, 'We didn't want that.'"

The survey can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/5d5nkn6w. Paper copies may be obtained at the Milanof-Schock Library, 1184 Anderson Ferry Road, or at the Mount Joy Borough office, 21 E. Main St. Papers with scannable QR codes linking to the survey are also posted at parks throughout Mount Joy.