Public response to the final hearing for the William H. Laubach Memorial Park and Franko Farms Recreation Area Master Plan seemed to be mostly positive.

About 25 persons attended the public hearing Aug. 15 in the Salisbury Township Municipal Building.

Concerns of residents living along Brook Avenue on the park’s east side seem to have abated.

A new component, not mentioned previously, was revealed: the possibility of a township community center in Franko.

One resident expressed concern about the location of new tennis courts, a parking lot and access road at Franko.

Concerns were voiced about speeding along Lehigh Avenue, which borders Laubach on its north side and vandalism in the park.

The informal gathering was not a sit-down meeting, but rather discussion with township officials and parks projects consulting firm representatives who answered questions at easels displaying aerial map diagrams and project maps of the parks improvements.

Laubach Park Master Site Plan Committee members attending the approximate 1-1/2-hour meeting which began 6 p.m. included Township Commissioner Vice President Robert Martucci Jr., Commissioner Debra Brinton; Recreation Advisory Committee Members Township Recreation Director Genny Baillie, Vice Chair Frank Adamcik, Secretary Patrick Jacoby and Francis J. McCullough, Township Environmental Advisory Council Task Force Member Robert Agonis and Laubach Park Master Plan consultants Leonard J. Policelli, landscape architect, project manager, Urban Research & Development Corp., Bethlehem and Joanne H. Conley, landscape architect, assistant project manager, URDC.

“Making people care”

“Making people care about it [Laubach Park] again and making it safe for my son,” was the take-away from the hearing for Colby Jackson, who lives along Lehigh Avenue with his wife, Angela, and son, Liam, 20 months, who attended the hearing.

“Making sure it’s updated and there’s parking,” Jackson said are among his other concerns.

“And the speeding and reckless driving is a problem [along Lehigh Avenue],” Jackson said. “You can look at the places where there’s burning rubber [from cars] on the street.”

Said Jackson, “From what I notice, there’s quite a few [drug] transactions going on in there [Laubach Park].

“I was mostly concerned with how the parking is,” Jackson said.

The Laubach plan calls for creating 35 on-street parking spaces along Lehigh Street with new curbs and sidewalks.

Several Brook Avenue residents at the public hearing said they have paid for tree removal and maintained an area along Laubach’s east side because they were told by a previous township board of commissioners it was their responsibility to do so.

“We’ve put up fences, cut grass, cleaned up debris and have trees removed,” Dennis Rasley said, who lives along Brook Avenue, adding paying to have a tree cut down cost him $1,200.

“We were told it was our responsibility,” Brian Pritchard said, who lives along Brook Avenue, and said it cost him $1,200 to have a tree cut down.

Salisbury Township solicitor Atty. John W. Ashley recently determined there is no “paper road” or unfinished township road, along Laubach’s east side. Maintenance of such a area is often done by residents.

Of the planned Laubach Memorial, “It’s right where I want it,” George Young of the memorial committee, said.

Pam Roediger, who lives adjacent to Laubach along Fairview Avenue with access to her home from the parking lot there, and her daughter, Trell Miller, were happy with the plan.

“I’m in awe of it,” Miller said, who added, “It says specifically ‘driveway access,’ and that’s what I wanted to see for mom.

“They call it grandma’s park,” Miller said of how her children refer to Laubach.

Franko parking concern

Under the plan, tennis courts will be relocated from Laubach to Franko.

For Myron Haydt, the placement of the tennis courts, according to the plan on display, toward the north or back of the park, plus the access road and parking lot there, presents a vehicular threat to pedestrians and children.

“Everything looks great, but I have some concern about parking,” Haydt said.

“To have kids running across the road, being near vehicular traffic, that’s not a good idea,” Haydt said.

Haydt said most public parks locate vehicle parking at the front, or entrance and those who use a park walk to the attractions.

Haydt said the location of the parking lot away from Black River Road, along which Franko Park fronts, could invite loitering and illegal activities.

“I am absolutely against any parking that can’t be seen,” Haydt said. “A parking lot like that away from the road is a recipe for disaster.”

One idea for improving safety at the 90-acre Franko Park being considered in the plan is installing a gate at the vehicular entrance.

The farmhouse at Franko, now occupied by Charles Durner, township animal control officer and his family, is included in the plan as a community meeting center, for groups, Scouts and rental.

“In the original Franko Farm Park plan, we [township Recreation Advisory Committee] were there,” Baillie said. The recreation committee held meetings at the house during the 1990s, according to Baillie.

Laubach wetlands problems

Relocating some of the sports fields at Laubach is believed necessitated because much of the park was a wetlands that has been filled in.

The first priority at the 14.25-acre Laubach Park is a hydrology study, Policelli told a reporter for The Press attending the hearing.

The study would identify wetlands and include vegetated swales to cleanse and slow stormwater, according to the plan, before it empties into Laubach Pond or Trout Creek, the latter of which traverses the park.

Wetlands at Laubach were also a concern at the Aug. 18 township Environmental Advisory Council meeting, where the park diagrams were brought out for display.

“This is still a wetlands. They just put grass on it,” township Director of Planning and Zoning Cynthia Sopka said of areas of Laubach.

Sopka noted Laubach has steep slope areas.

“If they’re disturbing 400-square-feet, they have to go before the zoning board,” Sopka said of township plans for Laubach.

Agonis presented a letter at the Aug. 15 master plan meeting objecting to the plan’s proposed riparian buffer zones.

“Riparian buffer zones should be severely limited or eliminated,” Agonis said, citing concerns overgrowth could be a breeding ground for ticks and contribute to Lyme Disease.

Overall, though, the Laubach and Franko plan seemed to receive positive responses.

“I think they did a great job in designing it,” Martucci said.

“I’m excited to see this proceed,” Baillie said. “I think it will make Laubach [Park] more desirable. It’s [Laubach] going to be more welcoming to the community as a whole.”

“It’s a step in the right direction for the people of this township,” McCullough said.

“I’m kind of happy,” Adamcik said, adding with a quip, “Maybe I won’t be around to see it all done.”

Turning serious, Adamcik said, “I don’t think there’s anything that’s being done that will be detrimental to the neighborhood.”

Here are highlights of proposed changes to Laubach and Franko parks in the master plan:

Franko

•Convert farmhouse for public use

•90-foot baseball field and amenities

•Tennis courts

•18-hole disc golf course

•Concession stand, restrooms, storage building

•Expand community garden

•Pedestrian overlook for view of center city Allentown

•0.75 multi-use Americans With Disabilities accessible walkway loop

•Nature-themed inclusive playground

•2.3-acre multi-purpose lawn

•Automated gate to enforce dawn-to-dusk hours

Laubach

•Shift middle baseball field

•Relocate football and soccer field

•Relocate basketball court

•Remove softball field

•Add pickleball court

•Build boardwalk around pond

•Move and construct new pavilion

•New inclusive playground

•0.6 mile Americans With Disabilities accessible perimeter walkway loop

•Install border between adjacent homes and east side of park with fencing and shrubbery

•Redesign existing on-street parking with curbing and sidewalk

•Reconfigure lower parking lot

•Restore riparian creek buffer

Timetable

The timetable for the Laubach and Franko Farms parks project is:

September - Master site plan committee meeting

End of 2016 - Finalize plan and seek township board of commissioners’ approval

April 2017 - Apply for grants.

End of 2017 - Begin awarding contracts.

2018-2019 - Commence construction.