With the first meeting of the Laubach Park Master Site Plan Committee scheduled, planning is moving ahead for improvements to the east side park located between East Susquehanna Street and East Emmaus Avenue.

The purpose of the meeting, scheduled 6 p.m. July 20 in the Laubach Park pavilion, is to familiarize the committee with the park. A representative of Urban Research and Development Corp., Bethlehem, consultant for the site plan project, is expected to attend. The meeting is not open to the public.

A representative of The Press plans to attend.

The Laubach Park committee and the consultant are expected to meet seven to nine times. After those meetings, several as yet to be announced public meetings are to be held in the municipal building.

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources approved a $26,700 Community Conservation Partnership Program Grant for the Laubach Park Master Plan and Recreation Connections Project. The grant is being matched with an equal amount from the township.

Township commissioners voted 5-0 at the March 27 meeting to approve applying for the DCNR grant for the Laubach Master Plan work.

"We think this will probably be more of an undertaking than Lindberg. It's a smaller park," Cathy Bonaskiewich, Salisbury Township acting manager-director of finance, said. "There's a lot of history and character there. We still have a lot of activities going on there."

The Salisbury Youth Association runs several competitive sports league programs there, including football.

The Laubach Park Master Plan is expected to be completed by early 2016. The Laubach Park study committee includes 20 members. With public input, the recreation commission and the consultant is expected to present the Laubach Master Plan to the township board of commissioners. The commissioners would then decide how to proceed with the plan and how to fund the project.

"We do plan on going for grants, just like we did with Lindberg," Bonaskiewich said.

The Lindberg Park perimeter walking path work now underway is funded by 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.

The master plan in-cludes improvements to Lindberg playground facilities and making the park restrooms and pavilion Americans With Disabilities Act compliant.

Commissioners at the March 27 meeting voted to submit an application for a DCNR Community Conservation Partnership Program Grant for the Lindberg Park ADA Facility Access Pathways and Groundcover Restoration Project and 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.

These projects are part of the Lindberg Park Master Plan, which is divided into 11 phases, totals $3 million and is expected to take 10 years to complete.

The township began creating a Lindberg Park Master Plan and Neighborhood Connections Study in 2011, based on the Salisbury Township Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Plan.

With input from the township recreation commission, public hearings were held throughout 2012 prior to the plan's approval.

The Laubach Park Master Site Plan is proceeding in a similar fashion.

The Laubach Park Master Site Plan Committee includes: Bill Fitzpatrick, Arts Academy Charter School executive director; Bob Agonis, Salisbury Township Environmental Advisory Committee task force member; Bob Martucci, Salisbury Township commissioner; Brian Muschlitz, Salisbury High School assistant principal; Cathy Bonaskiewich, Salisbury Township acting township manager-finance director; and Charles Beck, Salisbury Township Planning Commissioners chairman.

Additional members include Cynthia Sopka, Salisbury Township director of planning and zoning; Darryl Wentz, M&T Bank vice president and Lehigh Street senior branch manager; Debra Brinton, Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners vice president; Frank Adamcik, Salisbury Township recreation advisory committee chairman; and Frank Kane, Lehigh County, director, Department of Community and Economic Development.

Also on the committe are Frank McCullough, Salisbury Township recreation advisory committee member; Genny Baillie, Salisbury Township recreation director; George Young, neighborhood resident; Gloria Hinkle, neighborhood resident; John Andreas, Salisbury Township director of public works; Kayle Trenge, resident and youth; and LeAnn Malesky, neighborhood resident.

Mark Wilson, Salisbury Township recreation advisory committee vice chairman; Patrick Jacoby, Salisbury Township re- creation advisory committee member; Susan Young, Harry S Truman Elementary School teacher and Virginia Haas, Lehigh County community revitalization and development director.