Allentown Details Cedar Beach Communication Efforts

Allentown Parks Director Greg Weitzel last night detailed an admittedly exhaustive effort at outreach by city officials. But what he and Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski still fail to grasp is that they created most of the misinformation themselves by publishing a plan that had been changed and, in some cases, discontinued. That created lots of confusion, which continued well into last night. Moreover, Weitzell acknowledges that no effort was made to notify residents who actually live near the park and would be most affected by changes. No study was conducted to determine the impact of these renovations in their neighborhoods. Yet, Pawlowski later claimed that the city went "above and beyond" in its efforts to supply notice.

"Number one, it's the city's most heavily used park in our system. The park infrastructure has deteriorated, like the rest rooms and the pavilions. The park is also not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. And the Cedar Creek and Lake Muhlenberg ecological health is in dire need of attention.

"I want to walk through quickly a summary of the park planning process. In June 2007, we started a master plan ... . We set goals, we did field work and site analysis, we did key person interviews, public meetings, a cost analysis, and we came up with a final development plan. We did the typical flyers and postcards, we encouraged as many people as we could to get out and get involved in this process. We distributed these to more than forty media outlets, we posted the flyers in the park, in city hall, we put it on our web site and in various locations around the city. We mailed postcards to over 300 individuals and organizations, asking them to come out and get involved in the project.

"Our project team met with over forty key persons and conducted over forty key person interviews. More than twenty different organizations submitted comments or held meetings with the project team. Numerous comments were received via walk-in, email and phone.

"At every presentation I conducted, as well as the mayor, this plan was displayed. We also had an extensive open public comment period. We also put the plan in Adventure Allentown last Fall, the Cedar Creek Parkway Master Plan and Phase 1 Renovation was in the centerfold. We distributed this city-wide through the Morning Call. We sent it home to over 14,500 students, and it was placed in over fifty locations, including parks, libraries and county offices.

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"We also (with the cooperation of DCNR, the Pa. Recreation Park Society and PSU) conducted a park survey, a pre-renovation survey. There is a need to evaluate the impact of park renovations and park visitor behaviors and physical activity. We surveyed over 400 park visitors and we hope to do a post-renovation survey once we're done with Phase 1 construction.

"We also created a Rediscovery of the Park brochure to help get the word out even more.

"We underwent an exstensive approval process. Our approval process with city council was lengthy. It involves various meetings on our capital project improvements. The Director and myself attended over ten city council meetings and committee meetings. We created a city-wide parks capital improvements plan with the leadership of city council. All of these passed unanimously.

"We also had to undergo an extensive environmental impact and permitting process. Where there is stormwater or wetlands studies, sedimentation and erosion control, or what's called a MPEDS permit. It's one of the most extensive permits you have to get for any construction. We also have to get a DEP joint permit that pertains to the federal Clean Water Act. Innovative storm water management is one of the keys to this proposal. We're using what is today's best management practices. We're creating a subsurface infiltration bed, which is really a stormwater retention underneath the playground. We're not going to be piping water into the Cedar Creek."