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Parks superintendent outlines completed projects, staffing changes and playground plans
Summary
Lancaster Parks and Recreation Superintendent Steve Garfield reported staffing changes, program participation numbers, completed maintenance and several park projects in progress, including Elmwood Park playground replacement and grading work at Bowers Park.
Steve Garfield, superintendent of Lancaster City Parks and Recreation, briefed council on the department’s personnel, programs and projects at the Aug. 25 meeting.
Garfield said spring and summer programming ran despite a rainy season: 646 participants in spring soccer, 108 in spring flag football, seven adult kickball teams, and heavy pool usage (he said the two city pools recorded more than 21,000 combined visits over the season). He said the department is focusing now on fall programming and special events.
On staffing, Garfield announced the promotion of Jennifer Shamblin to assistant superintendent; Shamblin will continue to supervise recreation and lead administrative tasks and the Elwood Park project. Garfield said the department expects to hire a parks facility supervisor in mid-September to return staffing to prior levels after recent retirements.
Completed maintenance items included a recoating of the Tiki Pool slide, a new roof at Olivedale Senior Center (the seniors contributed $30,000 toward a $56,927 project), and stormwater improvements at Rising Park to address pond flooding. Underway projects include a $225,000 grant-funded Elmwood Park playground replacement and conversion of tennis courts to green space, grading and topsoil work on two of four planned fields at Bowers Park with added drainage, and an RFQ for an architect to produce construction documents for the Reimagined Miller Park plan; pool assessments for Miller and Tiki pools are also under way.
In response to council questions, Garfield outlined an expected timeline for Bowers Park fields (two fields potentially complete next year and two more the following year if the current schedule holds), said neighbors have not expressed negative feedback about Elmwood Park work, and explained that gravel/topsoil piles at Bowers Park are material stockpiled from grading and will be spread and graded as the work proceeds.
Garfield said skate-park elements are not included in the current Phase I RFQ for Miller Park but remain planned for a later phase. He offered to answer additional questions and to meet with project architects as work continues.
