Alrighty, I'll give everybody a chance to get back to their seats so we can get the parks and recreation committee started.

Just give everyone a chance to wrap up their conversation.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Let the record show that my committee members, uh, councilperson Pongo and Councilperson Binder are here.

Um, and the purpose of today's committee is to review the parks master plan.

And we do have our consultant here to provide us with the information, and then there will be an opportunity for questions and comments.

Um the plan is scheduled for adoption at the council meeting, scheduled for February 4th.

And with that, I'll let you guys take it away.

Great.

Thank you so much, Councilperson Santos.

Um, I'm just gonna open up with um letting everyone know that we have a lot of the parks and rec staff here tonight.

So if there are questions, um behind me we have Priscilla Reyes, the special events lead.

Um, and I'll just introduce because I know with the two new um committee members, just to start getting familiar with some of the faces, um, and also Lucinda Wright, who is deputy director of parks and recreation.

Um, Veronica Vasanak, sustainability coordinator.

And then we have uh Chris Hendricks, who are recreation manager, and um Bryn Hefner Baer, who is our project coordinator, so she helps us with our all the capital projects.

Um and also I'm grateful that Becky Kiss is here from the Board of Parks and Recreation.

Becky's in the back.

So um I we wouldn't be here if it weren't for all this help for the last year or so um working on this plan.

So I'm really grateful for the team that has helped us get to this place.

So and with that, um, I'll turn it over to um Simone Collins.

We have uh Bill Collins, who's the uh proprietor of that um organization, and he's gonna talk for a few minutes and then really just leave it open to a lot of questions.

And as um Councilperson Santos said, we'll have time between now and the next uh meeting.

If there are any follow-up questions, I'm happy to go into detail because I know um some of the new members weren't here for all of the discussions that happened last year.

Um so that's it.

I'll turn it to Bill.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is William Collins, I'm a principal at Simone Collins Landscape Architecture.

I'd like to thank the city council for um uh retaining us to do this project.

It was an important project for us, and I'm going to present uh um a few slides and leave time for questions tonight, and anything else that we can't answer tonight, we'll we'll get back to you.

But um can you go back a slide, please?

Um first of all, I'd like to thank um Mandy and her team.

Uh you have a terrific department here.

Um we it was a steep learning curve for us to get up to speed and and anything we needed, we got to help.

Um you should be proud of the proud of your team.

Uh this is our team.

Uh we had landscape architects and two certified rec and and parks professionals.

Um everyone was engaged in the public involvement as well as the planning and and assessment.

Next, please.

The acknowledgments, there's really too many people to to thank and and recognize.

Um, this is uh the list of the project committee.

Um, this the city staff and the parks and recreation team.

So thank you to those folks.

And I see that there's folks here tonight who um are citizens who participated actively.

Uh you had active um council representation.

Councilor Gerlock was uh at every meeting or almost every meeting, and that was really important to us.

Thank you.

Um I'm going to go over this uh this project um so that you have a framework of how to approach it and get the information that you need over time.

Um it's really dense.

There's a lot of data.

You've got a big park system.

The report is divided into six chapters.

Okay.

Uh executive summary, introduction, infrastructure, programs.

Can you go back one slide, please?

Management and the appendix.

Next, please.

The categories of park stewardship to try to get a handle on everything that the department does.

Um we structured the report so that the categories of stewardship include the infrastructure, the physical conditions and your physical facilities, the programs that are so important to the community, um, that are administered in large part by your city staff and the management and how the how your department manages all those resources.

Next we acknowledge the special partnerships that Allentown has for a long time, both old and now the new partnership partnership.

And they were instrumental, and we did key person interviews with both of those organizations for this project.

Next.

The public participation was it's the most important thing in public projects.

It was very important on this project.

Especially in the challenging climate that we had over the last year.

People came out and they participated.

It was really rewarding to see.

And then we were always available for emails or uh for people to call us up.

So everything got recorded.

All those communications are in the appendix if you want to go back and look at them next.

Parks inventory.

Um we created a map system and we started to help your department compile all the information.

Not we didn't get all of it, but we started to compile the information and format it into a usable form.

So this map we created because we thought that the hydrological and top topology of the of your city is is remarkable, and it is the basis for a large portion of your park system.

It's a riparian-based, right?

It's all around a lot of it is around the streams.

And so this map shows the topography.

It also shows the four uh basic neighborhoods in the city, and then the locations of of the parks and how they're distributed in those neighborhoods.

Next to try to get a grip on the types of improvements that could be made, whether it's safety and access or recreation facilities or environment and ecology.

We created a toolbox where different uh implementation projects might be needed in each park.

And so this is a basic toolbox, and each one of these tools is explained in the report.

And then next slide, please.

Those tools are identified for every park in your city.

Um there is a uh an analysis for every park.

Um, and you can see this one uh is a tally for the west end.

Uh the uh you can see the parks that are in the west end, and you can see the uh opportunities marked as the toolbox icons on the right.

So that's your shortcut to seeing what's needed at every park or in the the larger neighborhoods.

Next.

And then there is uh at least one page for every park.

So we drill down and we use the icons and the toolbox, add descriptions of the park itself, try to show we show the location every park on a small map, and then we show the features that exist now.

So this is a compilation of things that the city department had, but now it's all in one place.

Next uh there's two there's two items on this page, I think really important.

One on the left is throughout the report, your department and the people in the city are doing such an amazing job with this park system that they love.

We we wanted to tell those success stories, and so there's these capsule uh images and uh stories that are telling about the successes that the parks department and the and community has had over at least the last year.

On the right-hand side is the where we start to identify for everyone's um benefit how your management system works, um, how the department operates, um, who the personnel are, the staffing considerations, and I can tell you that in the comparison that we did with similar cities, your folks are doing more with less than almost anyone.

So you've you've got to recognize the work that they're doing.

Next financing, we we um spent some time on that, but to tell you the truth, um, City of Allentown has been very, very successful in going after funding and putting grant partnerships together.

And so you can see we we've been lucky enough to work on Percy Rue, and we just started with Franklin, and all those projects, including this one, are from the initiative that the department and the city has um has done to put the funding together to actually do these projects.

Um on the right hand side is a graphic, and when you get a chance to look at that, you'll see how many partners, whether it's government partners or NGO partners or community-based organization partners there are that support the works uh that the department's doing for uh Allentown Parks.

Next.

And then there are recommendations, but they're in the form of opportunities.

We don't try to tell the city what to do or when to do it or how to do it.

But the ideas that came out of the community and were vetted by your committee and by the department are listed as opportunities and and they're described under each type of uh uh of uh resource uh stewardship, whether it's programming management or um partnership uh funding.

Next finally, I'm going to close um within this um citywide parks planning project.

There was also included four master plans for specific parks that were that were selected by the city.

And for each one, there's um the layouts plans, and we're I'm just gonna go through these, and each one also has cost estimates based on 2025 costs.

Um so there's one for Bucky Boyle.

Next, please.

Um Roosevelt Park.

Next fountain park.

Next, and McCo's Plaza.

Um each one of those was developed conceptually and vetted with the department.

Um, and these are master plans.

They're the next level of development after the citywide park plan, but they are not construction documents.

They are valid and they are the basis when the city goes to DC and R or other funding agencies, these are the master plans that are going to uh justify funding.

So with that, I'd like to go to the next slide and we can um close.

Thank you so much for letting us be a uh of service to the city.

Happy to try to answer questions.

Yeah, thank you.

Um I'll open it up to the committee first for any questions you guys may have.

Thank you.

Um so first off, I'm just jumping into this now, so I apologize if there's something that was covered in the 120-page document that I didn't fully get through yet.

Um so one of the questions I'd had is in the master plan on some of these uh the parks that you're looking at in the areas where there's parking.

Um I know close to here, I think it's Bethlehem Area School District, they cover all of the parking spaces with solar.

Um, and then they would obviously utilize that so it it it it helps in you don't have to clear snow on that, you're getting power off that, and um it can help power the parks.

I'm just curious.

Was that it was any of that type of thing was evaluated or as an opportunity?

Well, I can say that, and Mandy, you might want to add, but let me just start by saying that you have a sustainability coordinator, and I think that falls squarely under under that, whether it's a park parking lot or whether it's another civic parking lot, all those opportunities are available.

We didn't get into the detail of which parks are oriented correctly or or anything like that, but I think it's something that the city should pursue.

Um, and you have the personnel in the and the position to do it.

Yeah, and and just to add, um, just recently uh Veronica has compiled like a solar um she had an intern do research on solar and barriers to solar in the city.

So it is something we're looking into, but it's not something that's specifically addressed in the plan, but it it would definitely be something that um if the opportunity arose and it made sense financially to include solar over a parking lot, um especially if it's a larger one of the larger parks that has a parking lot attached to it.

So thank you.

Welcome.

Mr.

Pungo.

Thanks.

Um so again, similar comments to Jeremy.

Apologies if maybe I'm hashing out something that are already previously discussed.

But of these master plans, I know there's a general obligation bond that's that's gonna go out uh and covers about 18 million roughly uh in parks.

I'm curious which if all of them are included within that 18 million.

I understand there's some stuff that's not from the parks plan itself.

There's other like maintenance buildings, but are any of these four specifically included within that GO bond?

Yes.

So Fountain Park is definitely included in there as well as Franklin Park, which we're working on a design right now.

So those two are included in the bond, the Geobond as well as in the plan to have the master plan in there.

Bucky Boyle was not because it is more of a we did it more of as a look to see about the development pressure around the outside of that park.

So if we were going to do something up Bucky, it would really be we would hope a private public-private partnership with some of the developers on that side of town.

As for Roosevelt, we're taking some steps right now to do some of those improvements, but we have not budgeted yet to do like an entire park overhaul.

We did recently renovate the basketball court and we're uh demoing the pool house and putting in a spray park.

So taking some of those smaller steps, but that one isn't necessarily included in the um in the general obligation bond request.

Yeah.

I do have one more follow-up to that.

In the case that, let's say, especially Fountain Park, it's a pretty ambitious design.

Have there been considerations made to if the budget doesn't allow for the full concept of what that scaled back version would look like or what are the order of priorities of what would or would it say?

Absolutely.

So the concept plan right now is very ambitious.

It's got a very big price tag.

It's the biggest one on of the three projects.

Um so I think what we would do is start with the design process, which would have public input, and we would be realistic based on what our budget is.

So similarly, how we're doing with Fountain Park, um, we're working with Simone Collins as well, and they were like, what is your budget?

And they're gonna work to design something that would fit that budget, so we'd be able to have um the ability to actually construct what we're designing.

So as um Bill said, this is just the first look at what could happen, but that's not necessarily to say that's exactly what's gonna be in Fountain Park, or it's gonna be something we're gonna be able to do all the things at once.

It may be a phased approach.

So um it wouldn't be I would never want to be in a situation where we're not doing anything because we don't have all the money.

So we would I would want to phase it and do pieces of it and um if it came down to that.

But it would really all be based on community priority and what's the most important thing that the community wants to see done first, and that's where we would start.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Yeah, go ahead.

Um another question.

So um this is just locally here.

I was at an event, I think it was in upper Macundia or Lower McCunchy, I don't know.

But uh, I know that we rent out pavilions here.

Um that event is is it was a common space that they could rent out that was actually enclosed, heated, cooled, and also had a kitchen facility or whatnot.

Um I know it would be a very small revenue stream, but I guess the question is as it acts as a nice uh location for people to do events in that's not weather dependent.

Was there any consideration for that in any of these master plans?

Absolutely.

It's a high priority for the parks department to have an indoor facility.

Right now we don't have access to anything indoors for um indoor sports or indoor gatherings.

So on the Fountain Park master plan, there is um a suggestion to have an indoor facility constructed there.

Um and that would allow for people to rent out for sports or gatherings and that type of thing.

So we're right on the same page when it comes to that.

That we see that as something that's missing from our spaces.

We have a lot of great outdoor spaces, a lot of pavilions and fields, but we don't have anywhere that is inside that we can do even really meetings or anything like that.

So yeah, and then uh at this point, I'll open it up to the dice.

Yeah.

So staying on fountain.

Um, I see that there's a boardwalk.

Um I don't know if you can say more to that.

So that was in response to um a lot of conversation around access to the water.

Um, so we're aware that the ordinance is that you are not allowed to swim in the creeks and rivers in the city.

Um, but we know that people really want access, whether that be for fishing, so that was the intent with that is that you could walk along the edge of the creek safely and still be able to access it, but not be in the actual creek.

So that was the idea behind including that in the um concept plan.

Got yeah and then I know at the different meetings I was at.

Um there's always been a lot of uh talk about a pool, of course, at fountain.

So can you speak a little bit to why um what's it say cooling mist area versus a pool, and then why the indoor sports area and so we talked about both and both were had a lot of conversation around it.

I think that both of them had as much traction.

There are some um, there's a lot of history behind the pool at fountain, and uh as we go through the design process, we're really gonna I anticipate spending a lot of time talking about that, what really makes the most sense.

Um, but there was also a lot of momentum and appreciation for having an indoor facility as well.

Also knowing that our pools are really at capacity, one pool is at capacity maybe five times a year.

So we do have the capacity to have people at pools.

It would be a different scenario than being able to walk to fountain pool, and it would be very different than um what's been talked about for a long time.

So it's still something that needs to have more discussion, but I think it's better to have options on the table, knowing that a poll has always been um of interest, but also that when we talked about having an indoor facility that had a lot of community interests as well.

Got yeah, okay.

Um thank you.

And um, an indoor facility would be a year-round.

It would be you'd be able to use it year-round as opposed to a pool that has such a limited number of months that you can use it and and to operate a pool, it's really expensive to staff pools um as well.

So it's just balancing all those different factors when you have the conversations and really figure out and dig in and decide what's gonna happen at at fountain.

But we are very sensitive knowing that it is a very sensitive topic.

Yeah, all right, thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

That's a quick question.

Sorry, one other quick question.

Um, with respect to the safe neighborhoods, I know there's an initiative to, I think safe streets, maybe that's what it's called.

Um, I know there's initiative to try and identify this was a year ago community um areas around parks that uh could have uh changes to traffic patterns or um access.

And I guess my question is does the master plan stop at the border of the park?

I know in some of these you're it looks like you're addressing like ADA coverage for crossing the street.

Is the master plan capturing that in all of the parks, or is it really just the ones that are in these five?

Um so I'll answer and then I'll ask Bill if he wants to add as well.

Um so the Safe Streets for All plan is referenced in this plan, and there are um so Public Works has added certain safety features outside of Leah Parkway entrance will happen this year, as well as around Irving.

So we're working closely with Public Works to make sure that wherever they're gonna do some of the recommendations out of Safe Streets for All, it's likely gonna be near a park.

Um, not always, but just that's where people are and and they're outside and crossing streets.

So we are in conversation with them, and it is referenced in the plan, but I don't know if Bill, you want to add anything else.

One of the things that we noticed right off the bat when we were looking at all the parks was how much work department of public works had done to to get the crosswalks in to get the handicap ramps in next to parks.

Um not all of them yet, but they're that's being done.

And so that we took as a really great sign that that's already institutionalized in the city, right?

You you have both departments understanding that access to the park is as important as accessibility in the park.

Um we also spoke with the mayor, and that was one of his uh prime objectives was like the park starts before the entrance.

So whether it's street trees or getting into the park or or the ADA accessibility or the information or the trash receptacles, all those things are community features, and they start before you actually step set foot in the park.

So all of the master plans, all four master plans acknowledge accessibility outside the park boundary, and that's that's really um the state of the art, and that's what the city can do from now on is is in each master plan that it does.

Make sure that the accessibility into the park is part of that plan.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Um, and with that, I will I'm sorry, was there something else?

I just want to quickly add, um, I did attend two of those outreach events.

I just want to really thank city staff.

You guys did a really nice job um engaging with the public, um, gathering feedback and doing a lot of listening.

So um I thought those events were well done.

I I know there's some volunteers in the room that played a part.

Um, I want to thank everyone for for playing a part because it's a big it's a big deal.

Uh the park system is one of our crown jewels, and and we need to do as much as we can.

So thanks to everyone for all the hard work you put in.

Thank you.

And I did want to thank city council as well.

I think everyone attended one meeting, so that that's huge.

So I appreciate everyone for showing up and and being there.

I think it makes me a lot to the residents that show up to those meetings as well.

So thank you so much.

Thank you for that.

Um and with that, I'll take public comment on what we just went over the master parks plan.

Anyone?

All right, seeing none.

Um just a reminder this plan is on the Allentown City website.

You can find it.

It's labeled Island Sound Comprehensive Recreation and Park Plan.

So if you want to take a look, it's on there.

Um and with that, I'll adjourn this meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.