More improvements to two popular public parks in Salisbury Township may be in the offing if funds are approved for recent grant applications.

On Salisbury's east side, an application for funding to devise a master plan for Laubach Park has been approved. The plan is the first step to upgrade the park near East Susquehanna Street and East Emmaus Avenue.

On Salisbury's west side, two applications for funding have been approved to add an Americans With Disabilities Act interior path as well as sidewalks and bicycle lanes outside of Lindberg Park, just off of Oxford Drive-24th Street and along Flexer Avenue.

Salisbury Township Manager Randy Soriano made a presentation on the grant applications at the March 27 township board of commissioners meeting. The applications are advocated by the township Recreation Commission, Salisbury Township Environmental Advisory Council and Salisbury Township Director of Planning and Zoning Cynthia Sopka.

Township commissioners voted 5-0 at the March 27 meeting to approve a resolution to:

- Submit an application for a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Community Conservation Partnership Program Grant for the Laubach Park Master Plan and Recreation Connections Project. Township Commissioner Joanne Ackerman made the motion, seconded by Commissioner James Seagreaves.

- Submit an application for a DCNR Community Conservation Partnership Program Grant for the Lindberg Park ADA Facility Access Pathways and Groundcover Restoration Project. Ackerman made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Vice President Debra Brinton.

Township commissioners voted 5-0 at the March 27 meeting to approve a motion for:

- Soriano to apply for funding under the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation "Transportation Alternative Program" for the installation of bike lanes to connect Green Acres Park to Lindberg Park. Brinton made the motion, seconded by Ackerman.

Concerning the Lindberg ADA grant application, Soriano told commissioners prior to the vote, "These are the inter-park facilities which would connect to our perimeter trail, which we are doing this year."

A $177,000 DCNR grant, $169,000 Lehigh County Green Future Fund grant and $35,000 Lehigh Valley Health Network grant, with work by the township Public Works Department, are funding the Lindberg Park perimeter walking path.

Requests for bids for construction of the estimated $400,000 project are expected to be made before June. Completion is expected by fall.

The perimeter path and the ADA Path are part of the Lindberg Park Master Plan. The perimeter path is intended to connect to Allentown's Lehigh Parkway path.

The Lindberg Park Master Plan has 11 phases. Total cost is estimated at $3 million. The completion timeline is about 10 years.

Work on the Lindberg Park Master Plan began in 2011, based on the township Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan. Public hearings on the Lindberg Park Master Plan were held during 2012.

Consultant for the Lindberg Park Master Plan and the DCNR grant applications is Urban Research & Development Corp.

Soriano said he recently met with a DCNR representative at a Lancaster seminar.

"The regional advisor was very pleased with what he saw [with the Lindberg Park Master Plan]. He recommended we apply for both [DCNR ADA and Laubach Master Plan] because we did such a good job with Lindberg," Soriano said.

The Lindberg ADA and related improvements are estimated to cost $340,000. If its grant application is approved, DCNR would fund 50 percent and the township would fund 50 percent of the cost.

"We are exploring partners for this. We would like to reach out to businesses and institutions," Soriano said, noting he was to meet March 31 with LVHN representatives.

"It does link to a healthy community because that's what parks are all about," Soriano noted.

The bike path would be along Lindberg Avenue. About five feet of the right side of the road would be allocated for bicycles for a distance of about 1.5 miles to Green Acres Park.

"That idea was part of the Lindberg Park Master Site Plan," Soriano emphasized.

PennDOT would fund 80 percent of the estimated $300,000 to $400,000 cost. The remaining 20 percent would be for engineering, which the township would fund with Keystone Consulting Engineers, township engineering consultant.

There would be some curb cuts along Lindberg Avenue. Curbs and sidewalks would be installed along Flexer Avenue in areas where none exist now.

"This will be all sidewalk?" Commissioner James A. Brown asked about Flexer Avenue.

"Yes, to get to the [Green Acres] Park," Soriano replied.

That pleased Ackerman, who lives near Green Acres, "because right now they have to walk in the street."

"I think we have enough right of way [for the bike paths]," Soriano said.

The Laubach Park Master Plan is expected to cost $50,000. If the grant application is approved, DCNR would fund 50 percent and the township would fund 50 percent.

The DCNR grant applications submission deadline is 4 p.m. April 16.

"A master site plan requires a lot of synthesis. We have a pretty good idea how to do this. So, we can move to beautify the east part of the township," Soriano said.