Trending
By this time next year, the City of Williamsport will be on its way to updating its comprehensive parks, recreation, open space and green infrastructure plan.
That is due to the efforts of the Mayor Derek Slaughter and his administration, a committee that recommended the company and City Council, which recently approved an agreement with a firm specializing in municipal planning.
That firm, Evolve LLC, of Pittsburgh, was approved as the "contractor" for the city as it begins an 18-month-long process.
The work is to be paid for through use of a state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' (DCNR) grant and natural gas impact fees.
"The city has this in the 2024 budget package, with the city funding a portion of the study," said Councilwoman Liz Miele, chair of the city finance committee, which looked at the plan ahead of the full council vote last week.
There is a financial cap of $139,000, according to the document.
Public input, planning and a final document
A representative with Evolve was at the meeting via remote.
"We are a design and planning firm," said Christine Mondor, principal with Evolve. The company has done implementations for parks, trail system planning and green infrastructure and two citywide plans for the cities of Buffalo, New York, and Pittsburgh, Mondor said.
Currently, Evolve is working on a similar process with the cities of Lancaster and Harrisburg, with the same type of contract stipulations and goals to be able to qualify for additional DCNR funds, Mondor said.
Evolve's Williamsport schedule indicates arrival, a series of
stakeholder meetings, looking at and visiting every park, and then doing a quantitative assessment on the conditions of the park, offerings and policies the city has available. That will be followed by public meetings that begin to get some of the goals, visions and aspirations of the community as well as any shortcomings or gaps that need to be addressed.
Evolve, she said, is planning to be teamed with Connect the Dots and McCormick Taylor (engineers), which help Evolve with the civil engineering and public engagement portion of the plan.
"We bring all that together as well as community development experience to see not only what the condition the parks are in, but what are their connections to the community, how we can connect the parks themselves and how we can think more systematically about your green space?"
The contract calls for 18 months with the first phase being the longest one because that is listening and learning -which is a seven to eight month phase.
Then there is testing done for five months and a refining of those ideas into a singular set of recommendations, which takes three months and launch is creating the final document and working with city officials closely so they can take it to the public, funders and others.
A 10-minute walk
to a park plan
Mondor said she was inspired in her interview with the way Slaughter and others spoke about the city's park and love for them.
Slaughter, meanwhile, said while he was at a conference he connected with officials from the Trust for Public Land, which this fall gave the city a report free of charge that Evolve can take with them and use in their analysis. The report is of the parks, amenities and a 10-minute walk goal for the city, which says every resident should have a 10-minute walk or less to reach a quality park.
The Trust for Public Land creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Since 1972, The Trust for Public Land has completed more than 5,000 park and conservation projects, protected more than 3 million acres, and helped generate nearly 68 billion in state and local conservation funding -- all made possible by the generosity of supporters.
It pools funds from many sources, with every $1 donated to The Trust for Public Land conserving more than $5 worth of land.
The city has a map of the park systems to be reviewed and the document/report done free of charge by Trust for Public Land.
Upon a question by Miele, the mayor noted that nearly every neighborhood is within the 10-minute walk or less to a quality park with the area of Grampian Hills having a slightly longer walk to Shaw Park.
"We are closer to being in reach to a 15-minute city," Miele said. "Everything being within a 15 minute walk or bus ride depending on where you live."
Grafius Run and Cochran Primary School
The city finance committee recently discussed Grafius Run but not in the context of the contract with Evolve, so Miele asked Slaughter if that could be part of the scope of the plan for Evolve.
"Yes, it came up during the interviews and can be something to look at for water infrastructure and how it plays into the park and green space infrastructure," Slaughter said.
Cochran playground runs close to Grafius Run, which frequently floods and the mayor said he believed that Evolve's study could include the Cochran site.
Councilman Eric Beiter was appreciative of DCNR, especially over the past four years, and noted Evolve website shows "fascinating information on how it is creating a living city masterplan for other cities."
"It is a great way to capitalize on the relationship with DCNR," Beiter said.