The Eldred Township supervisors approved the creation of an open space committee at their meeting on Wednesday.

“The supervisors wanted to create an open space committee, so the committee could take the lead on grants, planning and maintenance,” said borough secretary Ann Velopolcek.

The township used to have a parks committee, but it was dissolved a few years ago. Since then, the supervisors have been handling monthly checks of the parks and planning for maintenance and future developments, but decided they really needed to delegate the work to a committee, she said.

The open space committee will act as an advisory group to the supervisors, Velopolcek said. The supervisors hope that they will be able to plan events as well.

The township has several park areas that include: Mock Park Fiddletown site, Mock Park main site, Rail Bed Trail, Village Center and the playground at the Eldred Township Community Center.

The committee consists of five residents who volunteer their time to serve on it, as well as one supervisor. Velopolcek said township roadmaster Frank Fehlinger will be consulted on projects but is not on the committee. The members are Mary Anne Clausen, Lydia Boileau, Joe Pucci, Diane Pucci, Joyce Blaskow and Supervisor JoAnn Bush.

The committee’s first meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the municipal building. It is open to the public. After that, the meetings will be held at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month.

Pertaining to one of the parks, the supervisors held a special meeting on May 14 and addressed an issue involving the maintenance of the hiking trail at the Mock Park main site. Velopolcek said the roadmaster had marked some saplings for removal in order to access larger trees off the trail. Some residents thought the township was going to widen the trail to allow people to walk beside one another, but wanted it to remain natural and single-file.

Velopolcek said the supervisors stated that the trail would remain single-file and natural. It is cleared enough to be safe for hiking, but is not and will not be landscaped and mulched.

At their regular meeting, the supervisors sent a recommendation to the township’s planning commission asking them work on an ordinance to make ground-based geothermal heating systems allowable in the municipality. Currently, homeowners who want to put in geothermal heating have to apply for a special exception. Velopolcek said the technology has improved and it is becoming more routine for homeowners to put it in their houses.

“The Planning Commission will work out the details and send it back to the supervisors,” she said.