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Northampton County committee reviews $600,000 in Livable Landscapes grant requests
Summary
County staff presented five Livable Landscapes grant proposals — including a $75,000 Hellertown footbridge and a $300,000 City of Bethlehem trail segment — asking the committee to recommend approval and forward funding recommendations to the county Parks, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Board.
The Energy, Environment and Land Use Committee on June 18 heard a presentation from Sherry Acevedo, conservation coordinator for Northampton County Parks, on five proposed awards from the county's Livable Landscapes grant program, with total requests of $600,000.
The grants — four projects in the municipal park category totaling $300,000 and a separate $300,000 request for a City of Bethlehem trail segment — would fund projects ranging from playground reconstruction to trail connections and ecological restoration. "The foundation of it is based off of our open space plan for the county, which is our Livable Landscapes and open space plan for Northampton County," Acevedo told the committee.
The Livable Landscapes program, Acevedo said, has been running since February 2006; Northampton County has invested about $21,700,000 cumulatively across its open-space, municipal park and Livable Landscapes funds. Grants in the program require a dollar-for-dollar match from recipients, and Acevedo said applicants typically leverage additional state and federal funds beyond the required 50% match.
Presented projects included:
- Hellertown — a $75,000 request to install a footbridge over a mill race at Tumenilo Park to connect an existing trail to the Saucon Veil Trail; the project also includes riparian buffer planting and bank stabilization after the bridge installation.
- Borough of Northampton — a proposed complete replacement of the Fourth Street playground, including removal of more than 20-year-old equipment and installation of a roughly 10,000-square-foot poured-in-place rubber safety surface playground designed for ADA accessibility; the borough indicated additional funds from the Cindy Miles Foundation and other local partners would make up the remainder of the match.
- Palmer Township — Shawnee Creek restoration to address an impaired stream segment, including a three-zone riparian buffer (trees, shrubs and native plantings) intended to reduce pollutants, stabilize banks and allow scientific monitoring to document water-quality improvements.
- Upper Mount Bethel Township — phase 1 of construction for the Upper Mount Bethel Township Preserve on a former sand and quarry site, including invasive species removal, a primary parking/trailhead and two secondary trailheads, and improvements to about 3 miles of trails to meet ADA standards; the project already has grant funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Acevedo said.
- City of Bethlehem — construction of a 0.9-mile section to connect the South Bethlehem Greenway to the Saucon Rail Trail, consisting of a 12-foot-wide paved trail with native landscaping, BMPs and standard trail amenities; Acevedo said the city has DCNR funding in hand and the county's request would be a part of the larger, more than $1 million project.
Acevedo described the program's review process: applicants submit materials through the county's Neighborly online portal; county staff and an internal review committee score applications using an evaluation checklist; staff then bring recommended awards to the committee and the county Parks, Recreation and Open Space Advisory Board for recommendation to the county. "We look at how is it consistent with our livable landscape plan," she said.
Committee members expressed general support during the discussion. One committee member said the projects were "common sense" investments and emphasized parks' role in community quality of life; another asked that Acevedo email the presentation to committee members, which she agreed to do. Acevedo asked the committee for consideration and a recommendation to the board; the committee discussion did not record a formal vote in the transcript.
If approved by the committee and forwarded by the advisory board, the grants would proceed under the county's two-year grant timeline and would require the stated local matches and any applicable state or federal grant requirements.
