Erie develops a plan of millions of dollars to improve the city parks. How it will be financed

The city of Erie is taking a consultancy with rural experience to help develop an extensive, multi -year plan to improve the public parks of the city.

Mayor Joe Schember discussed the plan at his weekly press conference on Thursday. City officials have announced design workshop, a landscape architecture, city design, planning and strategic services, will work on the plan.

Design workshop has offices in Colorado, Texas, Nevada, California and North Carolina.

The company is paid for its work up to $ 237,743; $ 187,743 comes from the American rescue plan Dollars that the city has reserved for the park plan and the remaining $ 50,000 was provided by a subsidy from Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Federal financing to help with paying park improvements

Jackie Spry, the planning director of the city, said that the city has reserved more than $ 4 million in ARP funds for the Parking Improvement Plan.

The city in 2021 received around $ 76 million from the federal stimulation account of $ 1.9 trillion, signed by the then President Joe Biden to help with the recovery of the COVID-19 Pandemie.

De Erie Times-News reported in December 2021 that Schember's administration was planning to use up to $ 5 million of that money for park improvements throughout the city, and that the money could also be used to upgrade various sidewalks, street capes, street lighting, street lighting and street lighting and creating public art.

City officials have said that as part of the Parks Enhancement Plan, the city is planning to collect extensive input from city dwellers about the types of improvements they want to see and make budgeting decisions based on that feedback.

“It took us time to complete our working range and find the right consultancy,” said Schember.

Spry added: “The plan will offer a system -wide approach to prioritize financial strategies to maintain existing parks and recreational facilities, expand recreational services on the basis of current and future financing scenarios and to evaluate the needs and sustainability of our agency or parks.”

City officials and design workshop representatives are expected to start the plan about the plan soon.

What will the Park Plan investigate?

The park plan has been in the making for several years; The last extensive park plan of the city was carried out in 2003 among the then mayor Joyce Savocchio.

The parks of the city together form around 385 hectares, said city officials. The city also operates two public golf courses, the JC Martin Golf Course on Shunpike Road and Downing Golf Course on Troupe Road in HarborCreek.

According to the city Request for consultant proposals As far as the plan is concerned, the initiative will look at proposed improvements/strategies for a period of 20 years.

The plan “should create a route map” that investigates the level of financial investments that is needed to support Erie's parks; recreational facilities and programming; And the current personnel capacity and the city's policy with regard to parks to “fairly maintain these facilities and to comply with the recreational needs of various city dwellers, community groups and other stakeholders now and in the future.”

Renee Lamis, the Staff Chef of Schember, said that the Ciry should have the recommendations of the design workshop/a draft report in early 2026.

Please contact Kevin Flowers at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Etnflowers.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie creates an extensive, city-wide park improvement plan