ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown's Parks and Recreation Department soon will embark on a long-term mission to enhance the city’s outdoor assets.
Director Mandy Tolino at Tuesday’s city Planning Commission meeting presented a draft of Allentown’s comprehensive “Our City in a Park” plan, which she said lays out the broad goals for her department over the next 10 to 15 years.
Through a series of well-attended public meetings over the past year, officials identified nine major goals across three categories: infrastructure, programming and management.
Residents called for Allentown’s parks to be made more modern, safe and accessible, and officials are considering infrastructure upgrades at several parks, according to the draft plan.
Potential upgrades in the near future include new restrooms at Fountain Park and a spray pad at Roosevelt Park, Tolino said.
Longer-term infrastructure investments could bring new sports fields and aquatics facilities to city parks, while officials also are eyeing park “makeovers,” according to the plan.
The 136-page draft plan encourages collaborations with other agencies, such as Trexler Trust and Allentown Parknership, and says capital improvements should be prioritized in underserved areas to ensure equity in city parks.
That could mean microparks and other small greenspace improvements in parts of the city where many residents can’t walk to a park within 10 minutes.
That was one of the major metrics used by consultants from Simone Collins Landscape Architecture as they gathered feedback from scores of residents at public-input meetings throughout the city since November 2024.
And almost 2,000 residents took the company’s online survey to weigh in on what they want to see.
'Relentless' planning effort
The draft plan includes an analysis for Allentown’s 15 parks, including five miniparks, and identifies needs and opportunities at each.
Allentown’s Parks and Recreation Department likely will require a bigger workforce to implement all of the draft plan’s recommendations, according to Tolino.
The planning effort "was relentless — and I say that in the most positive way."Christian Brown, planning commission chairman
The city has more than twice as much park acreage per 1,000 residents as the national average, but half as many employees as the average, Tolino said.
Planning Commission Chairman Christian Brown commended Tolino and her team for putting “a tremendous amount of work into this plan” since public meetings started last November.
Brown said he struggled to keep pace with the impressive planning process.
“It was relentless — and I say that in the most positive way,” he said.
City officials are asking residents to weigh in on the draft plan online. Comments will be accepted through Nov. 23.
The plan is due to be presented to Allentown City Council in mid-January, with adoption expected Feb. 4.
