ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The city’s Environmental Advisory Council is weighing in on plans to improve parks across the city.
EAC members on Monday unanimously approved a letter to city officials outlining several recommendations after reviewing a draft of a plan during its regular monthly meeting.
Simone Collins Landscape Architecture, a Montgomery County-based firm, has worked for the past year to develop a master plan to guide the city’s parks over the next 15 years.
The public and stakeholder review period started in late October, and runs until Nov. 23.
“We did not have a seat on the official sort of committee that went along with this master parks plan, but we were present, I believe, at every single one of their public community engagement meetings."Kyle Ropski, Allentown EAC chair
“We did not have a seat on the official sort of committee that went along with this master parks plan, but we were present, I believe, at every single one of their public community engagement meetings,” EAC Chairman Kyle Ropski said.
“I wrote on plenty of those whiteboards that they brought to these meetings. We've been involved in the process. We had a focus group where we were able to provide some more detailed input.”
‘Cross our fingers, and then hope’
While the letter opens with a section “commend[ing] the plan’s emphasis on equity, accessibility, green infrastructure and connectivity, which are key components of a sustainable and resilient parks system,” it also includes five main recommendations, each with subtopics.
They are: formalize roles for sustainability and environmental planning, increase naturalized areas and biodiversity, promote renewable energy infrastructure and public education, strengthen interdepartmental collaboration and resource coordination and increase cooling services to the community.
The final recommendation, focused on cooling centers, includes “increase spray pads, aquatic amenities, and other infrastructure at parks to provide cooling services to the community as an adaptation measure to climate change.”
EAC member Craig Beavers said he had a “personal gripe” with the draft plan.
“They really didn't talk about the ‘p’ word at all — pools,” Beavers said.
“I understand there's a cost, but I think the city should be looking at other aquatic amenities in addition to spray pads … And I don't think spray pads are it, especially older adults, teens will not use a spray pad, but they might use something else.”
“The city could be doing a heck of a lot more to provide relief for people, whether it's cooling stations — the current attitude of we're just going to enforce more strictly people who go into the streams and rivers to cool off is absolutely the wrong approach when it comes to the impact of climate change. It just tone deaf.”Tinku Khanwalkar, Allentown EAC co-chair
“There are things that, particularly when it comes to environmental justice, the city could really be looking at more seriously to help those who don't have air conditioning, and we know the extreme heat is going to be an issue,” EAC Co-chair Tinku Khanwalkar said.
“The city could be doing a heck of a lot more to provide relief for people, whether it's cooling stations — the current attitude of we're just going to enforce more strictly people who go into the streams and rivers to cool off is absolutely the wrong approach when it comes to the impact of climate change.
"It's just tone deaf.”
After approval, Ropski said, the letter would be submitted during the comment period as a recommendation letter.
“Everybody can obviously submit their own comments as an individual, if they so choose,” he said.
“And then, we're just going to cross our fingers, and then hope that they take in some of those considerations as we move to the final one.”
A project schedule, posted on the city’s website, shows the plan is scheduled on Jan. 21 to be presented to City Council, with an adoption vote scheduled for Feb. 4.
Allentown’s 1st CAP
Also during the meeting, EAC members unanimously approved another letter to city officials — this time, with recommendations for the city’s first-ever Climate Action Plan.
Currently, Allentown is the only major city in the Lehigh Valley without a Climate Action Plan. Bethlehem’s was published in April 2021, Easton’s following that October.
“The intent of this list, more or less, is to provide to Veronica, the city sustainability coordinator, as well as the consultants that are going to be handling the city of Allentown's Climate Action Plan, kind of an idea of a high-level priority list," EAC Chairman Ropski said.
"A priority document that encapsulates a lot of the things that we want to make sure is covered in the Climate Action Plan.”
The letter includes 10 recommendations, including recommending measurable, science-based emission reduction goals for both municipal operations, as well as the broader community; improving building energy efficiency and sustainable design; and enhancing urban tree canopy and green infrastructure.
“I think this list has starts us off pretty solid,” Ropski said. “It gives us something that we can hand to the consultants and Veronica and say, ‘This is a list of things that we want to make sure that are included,’ so that they can always point back to it and say, ‘Look, you told us this in the beginning.’
“And, any sort of the nitty-gritty details and some of the things that we might want to focus on, we can do throughout the process — that's my hope.”
Editor’s Note: Tinku Khanwalkar, who is quoted in this report as co-chair of the Allentown Environmental Advisory Council, also serves on the board of directors of Lehigh Valley Public Media, the parent organization of LehighValleyNews.com. Her involvement with the board had no influence on the reporting or editorial decisions related to this story.
