EASTON, Pa. — Easton's Centennial and Vanderveer Parks could get upgrades featuring new equipment that could cost $350,000 each, council learned in a presentation on the work Wednesday.
City Public Works Director David Hopkins led the discussion, providing draft plans for both parks that detailed changes to walking paths, playground equipment, seating, plants and water features and more.
While council appeared to approve of the improvements, the price tag — with estimates ranging from $300,000 to $350,000 per park — raised some concerns and provoked a discussion on offsetting some costs via partnerships with Easton Area School District.
Hopkins said designer Chester Valley had done “a pretty decent job” on the initial plans for both parks, which will be made publicly available on the Easton website, along with their social media pages.
Centennial Park
Plans for Centennial Park at 12th and Ferry streets would include an ADA-compliant walking path that would make all the park’s features available — an important goal, “particularly the ones that are in the new 1218 and 1220 [Ferry Street] area,” Hopkins said.
“There’s some topography we decided to utilize with a land-based triple slide we thought would be fun," he said.
"We tried to turn the path into a two-way youth bicycle track. It’s got stop signs, stop bars. It’s pretty cool, and they’re out of traffic, so it could be a good place to ride."
“I think it packs a lot of play value, and this would be the plan going forward after we get public comment. And then it just comes down to whether we have enough budget to implement everything we want to see in the plan.”Easton Public Works Director David Hopkins
The Pubic Works office also proposed new playground equipment farther from the basketball court, in addition to a larger pavilion for park programming, and “self-actuated, extremely water efficient” misting poles.
“We also included some natural play areas,” Hopkins said.
“These are dirt berms, there’s a long tunnel here connecting them which we have found to be pretty popular with kids. And then we’re proposing to dress the basketball court.
"There’s some exposed foundations that are not attractive. We’re going to put a planting bed in there to hide that. We’re going to resurface the basketball court and bleachers."
The city also aims to reduce the amount of chain link fencing around the park, and add decorative barriers “to spruce it up,” as well as planting beds, “for aesthetics,” Hopkins said.
“I think it packs a lot of play value, and this would be the plan going forward after we get public comment," he said.
"And then it just comes down to whether we have enough budget to implement everything we want to see in the plan.”
Councilman Robert Ruggles said he appreciated the path around the park, and that it would be something “older people would use as a walking path.”
“You can’t do much to a smooth stone, and we’ve had a lot of good luck down on the waterfront with them."Easton Public Works Director David Hopkins
Ruggles asked whether benches could be installed to accommodate those individuals.
Hopkins said there would be “tons of seating” in the way of seating stones. He said benches run about $1,000 each, and tend to be vandalized quickly.
“You can’t do much to a smooth stone, and we’ve had a lot of good luck down on the waterfront with them,” Hopkins said.
Easton resident Arthur Ravitz questioned the use of the stones over benches, though Hopkins reassured him that not all the benches would be removed.
The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources would fund a significant part of the project.
Vanderveer Park
Hopkins said the city aims to work on Vanderveer Park at 12th and Spring Garden streets before Centennial, as there are some limitations when it comes to starting construction after the end of the school year.
It would be completed prior to the beginning of the next year.
“The designer reoriented the layout so the entrances are from the corners of Spring Garden Street, which I thought is pretty cool,” he said.
Hopkins said the ADA path and bike path were developed in a similar fashion to the Centennial Park plans.
"It has a lot of balance beams, tunnels, these are steppers for the kids — they’re like small pieces of cut wood. There’re berms. It’s more like a runaround and run through and play."Easton Public Works Director David Hopkins
“We’re proposing all-new playground equipment for the center: a big swing set and a large climber and over in the corner by 11th Street, we proposed a huge natural play area," he said.
"It has a lot of balance beams, tunnels, these are steppers for the kids — they’re like small pieces of cut wood. There’re berms. It’s more like a runaround and run through and play."
Additional features will include a brand new, larger pavilion on a concrete pad, and a possible open concrete area that could be used for “hopscotch, drawing, art, whatever activity can be programmed,” Hopkins said.
Planting beds and sitting stones also will be in the park, Hopkins said, playfully addressing Ravitz to a round of laughs.
“So a lot of the same basic elements, just a different layout, and I think it will have a really nice aesthetic,” Hopkins said.
Cut costs with EASD partnership
As for the basketball courts at Vanderveer, Hopkins said he was working with Greater Easton Development Partnership Executive Director Jared Mast to see if the school district could help with upgrades “as a service to the neighborhood.”
Hopkins said revamping the courts could be achievable with a bit of help from the city government and grant funding reducing the overall costs for the school district.
“Playground equipment is not cheap, so I’m hoping that when we go out to bid, we get some good bids," Hopkins said. "And if not, we’ll try and knock off as much as we can by doing the work in-house."
Hopkins said the city could take care of paving and demolition.
“If [the school dsitrict] can come up with $25,000, $30,000 to help with the basketball courts, we’ll take on the majority of the work,"Easton City Councilman Frank Pintabone
Asked when Pioneer Park at Lincoln and Milton streets would get some love and care, Hopkins said several South Side parks got attention in the past few years.
Pioneer’s basketball courts could use additional work, but Centennial and Vanderveer “really need it,” he said.
Councilman Frank Pintabone said he had been meeting with representatives from the school district — some of whom were at Wednesday’s meeting — to help alleviate some of the cost for the basketball courts.
“And if they can come up with $25,000, $30,000 to help with the basketball courts, we’ll take on the majority of the work," he said.
"We rent… we lease Vanderveer — I get it. We’re putting in $300,000-plus there. The school district owns it. We lease Lachenour, the city owns it. We just put $31,622 into there.”
He said the city should explore partnerships with the school district or other entities to reduce expenses.
Pintabone said he would like to see the relationship with the district to become less “one-sided.”
Hopkins said that while his office was in communication with school district officials, discussions concerning money would be “sort of new, but we do talk about coordinating.”
“These are two good projects for that very densely populated area,” Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said at the conclusion of the presentation.
