Allentown presents 2026 Parks & Recreation budget and near-final parks master plan
October 29, 2025 | Allentown City, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
This article was created by AI summarizing key points discussed. AI makes mistakes, so for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Please report any errors so we can fix them. Report an error »
Miss Delino, Parks and Recreation staff presenter, told the Allentown City Council that the proposed 2026 Parks & Recreation budget maintains most line items while advancing access, sustainability and staff safety. “This budget has a strategic focus,” Delino said, listing priorities that include a new park facility for employee safety, trail projects, completion of the parks master plan, an urban forestry plan, and expanded aquatics and recreation programs.
The department manages 67 full‑time employees and about 200 part‑time seasonal workers and oversees more than 2,000 acres of parks and public landscapes. Delino described the maintenance bureau as a 53‑person team that handles trees, trails, athletic fields, special events support, snow and leaf removal and downtown beautification. She said most budget increases are contractual — seasonals, porta‑potty contracts and certifications for staff — and that the chemical budget remains largely flat despite price increases because about 80% of that line funds pool chemicals.
Responding to community feedback, Delino said the budget adds one new restroom at Fountain Park. “The restrooms that we're thinking of are pretty...out‑of‑the‑box solutions,” she said, describing permanent, trailer‑style park restrooms that could be installed quickly and estimating a possible second‑quarter 2026 timeline for installation.
Special events funding covers concerts at Union Terrace and Cedar Beach, fireworks and porta‑potty contracts; Delino said the special events team in the budget is three people (with an additional deputy in oversight). Lights in the Parkway will continue as a ticketed car experience and several walking nights; Delino said that line decreased by $12,000 while the program adds new RGB displays that respond to music.
Sustainability remains a one‑person bureau in the proposed budget but carries several ongoing initiatives: completing the climate action plan started in 2025, producing an urban forestry plan and inventory, continuing an EV pilot (currently seven EV vehicles), and analyzing 26 youth climate action mini‑grants completed last year. Delino said the city is joining the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) and will access ClearPath 2 technical assistance and additional grant opportunities.
On grants, Delino estimated roughly $1.4 million in recent sustainability‑related grant awards, including about $1 million for urban forestry, and said most federal funding the department pursues is project specific rather than operational.
Recreation programming continues to expand: the administrative recreation team supports roughly 20–25 programs and partnerships (including Special Olympics), summer playgrounds and efforts to integrate swim lessons into the playground schedule. Delino said the summer playgrounds logged about 8,558 attendances (each visit counted), that 70% of aquatics staff are Allentown youth and that rehire rates for seasonal positions are high (around 50–57%). She also reported an 8% dip in pool attendance following a cold June and a 30% reduction in lifeguard rescues compared with the prior period.
The golf fund is performing strongly, Delino said: revenue so far is around $2,000,000 with a projected year‑end of approximately $2,500,000 and about 50,000 rounds played this year.
The Trexler Fund showed a small increase (about $50,000 primarily for wages). Capital projects funded through Trexler include a Lehigh Parkway wall and stairs (a WPA project) with an award scheduled to begin in March 2026. Capital priorities overall list a new parks facility to consolidate staff and maintenance operations (the maintenance team now works in a historic barn that lacks appropriate ratings), continued construction on the MLK Trail phases, D&L Trail work, Bogerts Bridge construction, and smaller investments in basketball courts, Franklin Park and Roosevelt spray park.
Delino previewed the parks master plan, a yearlong effort mostly funded by DCNR with some city matching funds. The plan team held five public meetings, 15 stakeholder interviews and received about 2,000 survey responses. Staff set a public comment window through roughly November and said they hope the final draft will be ready by January–early February for council consideration. Delino summarized top concerns from public input as safety, restrooms, shade and amenities; the plan organizes nine goals across infrastructure, programming and management and notes that Allentown has about 16 acres of parkland per 1,000 people — more than double peer cities — which influences the recommendation to focus on maintenance and access rather than large acreage additions.
Council members and attendees raised several follow‑ups: praise for the Fountain Park mural and the youth mini‑grant program; requests for demographic breakdowns of survey respondents (including Spanish responses); interest in enabling farmers markets and better coordination for food distribution in parks; and a request to avoid overplanting the Jackson Street Park hill to preserve winter sledding.
No formal vote or ordinance was taken during the presentation; council requested additional data on grant totals, demographic participation in the survey, and follow‑up on food‑distribution rules. Staff committed to provide more detailed grant totals and demographic results before the comment period closes.
The meeting closed after final questions and a brief public exchange.
The department manages 67 full‑time employees and about 200 part‑time seasonal workers and oversees more than 2,000 acres of parks and public landscapes. Delino described the maintenance bureau as a 53‑person team that handles trees, trails, athletic fields, special events support, snow and leaf removal and downtown beautification. She said most budget increases are contractual — seasonals, porta‑potty contracts and certifications for staff — and that the chemical budget remains largely flat despite price increases because about 80% of that line funds pool chemicals.
Responding to community feedback, Delino said the budget adds one new restroom at Fountain Park. “The restrooms that we're thinking of are pretty...out‑of‑the‑box solutions,” she said, describing permanent, trailer‑style park restrooms that could be installed quickly and estimating a possible second‑quarter 2026 timeline for installation.
Special events funding covers concerts at Union Terrace and Cedar Beach, fireworks and porta‑potty contracts; Delino said the special events team in the budget is three people (with an additional deputy in oversight). Lights in the Parkway will continue as a ticketed car experience and several walking nights; Delino said that line decreased by $12,000 while the program adds new RGB displays that respond to music.
Sustainability remains a one‑person bureau in the proposed budget but carries several ongoing initiatives: completing the climate action plan started in 2025, producing an urban forestry plan and inventory, continuing an EV pilot (currently seven EV vehicles), and analyzing 26 youth climate action mini‑grants completed last year. Delino said the city is joining the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) and will access ClearPath 2 technical assistance and additional grant opportunities.
On grants, Delino estimated roughly $1.4 million in recent sustainability‑related grant awards, including about $1 million for urban forestry, and said most federal funding the department pursues is project specific rather than operational.
Recreation programming continues to expand: the administrative recreation team supports roughly 20–25 programs and partnerships (including Special Olympics), summer playgrounds and efforts to integrate swim lessons into the playground schedule. Delino said the summer playgrounds logged about 8,558 attendances (each visit counted), that 70% of aquatics staff are Allentown youth and that rehire rates for seasonal positions are high (around 50–57%). She also reported an 8% dip in pool attendance following a cold June and a 30% reduction in lifeguard rescues compared with the prior period.
The golf fund is performing strongly, Delino said: revenue so far is around $2,000,000 with a projected year‑end of approximately $2,500,000 and about 50,000 rounds played this year.
The Trexler Fund showed a small increase (about $50,000 primarily for wages). Capital projects funded through Trexler include a Lehigh Parkway wall and stairs (a WPA project) with an award scheduled to begin in March 2026. Capital priorities overall list a new parks facility to consolidate staff and maintenance operations (the maintenance team now works in a historic barn that lacks appropriate ratings), continued construction on the MLK Trail phases, D&L Trail work, Bogerts Bridge construction, and smaller investments in basketball courts, Franklin Park and Roosevelt spray park.
Delino previewed the parks master plan, a yearlong effort mostly funded by DCNR with some city matching funds. The plan team held five public meetings, 15 stakeholder interviews and received about 2,000 survey responses. Staff set a public comment window through roughly November and said they hope the final draft will be ready by January–early February for council consideration. Delino summarized top concerns from public input as safety, restrooms, shade and amenities; the plan organizes nine goals across infrastructure, programming and management and notes that Allentown has about 16 acres of parkland per 1,000 people — more than double peer cities — which influences the recommendation to focus on maintenance and access rather than large acreage additions.
Council members and attendees raised several follow‑ups: praise for the Fountain Park mural and the youth mini‑grant program; requests for demographic breakdowns of survey respondents (including Spanish responses); interest in enabling farmers markets and better coordination for food distribution in parks; and a request to avoid overplanting the Jackson Street Park hill to preserve winter sledding.
No formal vote or ordinance was taken during the presentation; council requested additional data on grant totals, demographic participation in the survey, and follow‑up on food‑distribution rules. Staff committed to provide more detailed grant totals and demographic results before the comment period closes.
The meeting closed after final questions and a brief public exchange.
View full meeting
This article is based on a recent meeting—watch the full video and explore the complete transcript for deeper insights into the discussion.
View full meeting