ALLENTOWN – The residents who lead four committees in Allentown are asking the town’s elected officials to create a new body that would be responsible for the development and improvement of all borough-designated parklands.
Nancy Tindall, who chairs the Allentown Environmental Commission, wrote on behalf of Jan Meerwarth, the chairman of the Historic Preservation Commission, Eileen Kuzma and Craig Rondinone, the co-chairs of the Recreation Commission, and Terry Brown, the chairman of the Shade Tree Commission.
In a June 3 letter to Mayor Greg Westfall and Borough Council President Thomas Fritts, Tindall said the four groups “strongly urge the Borough Council to create, by ordinance, a park committee with responsibility for the development and improvement of all borough designated parklands.”
Tindall wrote that “the simplest way to achieve this would be to convert the Ashby Park working group, as it is presently constituted, to a formal park committee. The administrative sections of the borough code in which we find the responsibilities
for the environmental, historic preservation review, recreation and shade tree
commissions – key commissions – do not clearly assign responsibility for parks to any single
entity; each of the four key commissions named have some role in managing and sustaining our parks.
“For several years, there has been a continuing search to develop a process for making
decisions with respect to improvements to borough parks. Presently, for example, proposed
plans for plantings in our parks are initiated by the Shade Tree Commission, and the plans are then circulated to the three other key commissions for review, comment and endorsement.
“In the case of the newest addition to our park inventory, Sgt. George Ashby Memorial Park, the approach taken, after several false starts, was to form an ad hoc panel to lead the design effort with representation from Borough Council and the four key commissions.
“The Ashby experience suggests that having a single entity with a representative membership can be very effective in the decision-making process rather than having to build consensus among four commissions without all being at the table at the same time.
“We believe creating a single committee with a focused purpose and responsibility for the
physical development of all our parks will support the efficiency of the decision-making
process, and provide consistency in design and vision throughout our public spaces.
“We applaud the model for planning park development found in the Sgt. George Ashby Memorial Park experience and we suggest that model can best serve the goals to support, develop and maintain our park system for today and future years.
“We endorse the creation of such a new committee by ordinance and we stand ready to
assist the Borough Council in implementing this proposal to benefit our community so that our public lands can be enjoyed and protected,” Tindall wrote on behalf of the other committee chairs.
On June 20, Westfall said, “I’m basically on the same page as Nancy. Our code book needs to be revised. There is a lot of overlap as it relates to parks.”
The mayor said he would be willing to look into the matter and discuss the request to create a park committee.
On June 21, Fritts said, “In regard to the formation of an advisory park committee, I am very much in favor. A ‘smart park’ plan that maintains and protects a park’s historic elements while using financial and ecological sustainable practices would serve us best.
“As council president, I asked for a resolution appointing a special committee for the implementation of Ashby Park, of which I am currently a member. This Ashby Park committee is comprised of members from the governing body, from the recreation, historical, shade tree and environmental commissions, and from the Planning Board.
“It is my recommendation that these committee members should be considered first, but prior to any appointments being made, I would also recommend that we advertise within the community, offering the opportunity for consideration to all residents interested (in serving on a park committee).
“We live in a very special place with many educated and talented people and we should look for the most qualified in order to serve our parks. A seven-member committee with three-year staggered terms, along with a descriptive ordinance, would best solidify a park committee permanently,” Fritts said.