EASTON, Pa. — Work will begin today, Wednesday, Dec. 3, on upgrades to a city pocket park, a space that will feature the city's first nano-forest.
“The crew that we hired is going to be starting to put in privacy fencing in the very back of it, and then they’re going to do ADA-compliant pathways and landings to get down to the back,” city Conservation Manager Rob Christopher said.
Christopher gave the update Tuesday during the city Environmental Advisory Council’s regular monthly meeting.
The pocket park, at 1030 Bushkill St., is about the size of a city lot — 25 feet wide by 125 feet long — and plans include adding educational stations, such as a weather station and a sundial, as well as planting trees.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep adding into that area, promoting a lot of education."City Conservation Manager Rob Christopher
In addition to a nano-forest, the park will have a patio area with Adirondack chairs made of sustainable materials.
Describing the weather station as "pretty high tech,” Christopher said visitors will be able to connect via an app to monitor conditions, such as rainfall.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep adding into that area, promoting a lot of education,” Christopher said.
Air quality monitoring
The EAC also is in the early stages of a citywide air monitoring project, seeking to partner with Northampton Community College, the Nurture Nature Center, as well as a region-wide project already in process.
The project would include collecting data on air quality at various locations — parks, urban areas and near highways — to monitor any changes from new development, EAC Chairman Nick Gorski said.
“I’m waiting to hear about a grant I put in to get 10 sensors for Easton specifically,” Nurture Nature Center Science Director Kate Semmens said.
“And as part of that, we're hoping to recruit some citizen scientists in the community that would be able to provide that power source and the WiFi and be able to maintain the sensors going forward.”
Semmens said they plan to work with Lehigh Valley Breathes to help calibrate the monitors. Once online, they’ll be considered part of the larger project across the region.
The Lehigh Valley Breathes project, a $100,000 regionwide initiative, was launched in August 2023, and recently advanced from data collection to analysis.
The goal of that project is to measure PM 2.5, particles so small they’re invisible to the naked eye, but made up of a mix of chemicals that can get deep into the lungs and can cause health problems.
Semmens hopes to find out this week the outcome of the grant application, she said.
Light pollution
Also during the meeting, EAC Vice Chairwoman Stacy Melvin and city Sustainability Coordinator Brandon Sullivan shared progress on work toward an ordinance to tamp down on light pollution across the city.
Melvin said a draft of the ordinance is underway, with a meeting scheduled for this month to review edits, as well as opportunities for educational outreach.
“What we’re looking at is that we really want to educate the public — residents, City Council — on this ordinance and answer any questions that we can address."EAC Vice Chair Stacy Melvin
“What we’re looking at is that we really want to educate the public — residents, City Council — on this ordinance and answer any questions that we can address,” Melvin said.
Over the past several months, the EAC has worked on an ordinance that would make the city DarkSky-complaint, which may include using LED bulbs, shielded fixtures, temperature range limits and dimmers on streetlights.
During an October City Council meeting, EAC members urged the board to consider adopting an ordinance that could help combat light pollution and improve health for humans and animals, and feedback generally was positive.
After a draft is finalized, it’ll go to city Public Works Director David Hopkins for additional feedback, then before City Council.
“It might be too comprehensive; it might be too much,” Sullivan said. “So we’ll see what happens. But it’s got to go through him first.”
