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The Altoona Redevelopment Authority has transferred five wooded lots flanking Garfield Park to the city, so the city can develop trails for the park on that ground, as part of a larger park improvement project.
The overall project includes construction of a track and a playground, with the new amenities complementing existing ballfields and six recently constructed pickleball courts.
The city plans to apply for a $375,000 grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to help fund the project -- a grant that would require an equal match that would be covered by a share of the city's $39.6 million American Rescue Plan Act allotment.
The city will pay the RA $1 each for the Garfield-adjacent lots.
Four are side-by-side, at the far end of the park from South 25th Street, which provides the only vehicle access to the park.
Those lots have been lying "dormant" with the RA since the 1970s, according to Diana White, director of the Department of Community Development.
They were destined for an expansion of Garfield based on a 1976 master plan, White said.
The other lot is on the right side of the roughly rectangular park for someone facing it from the street.
The park project is one of six that council has endorsed among 19 initial proposals that staff had asked members to consider several months ago.
Another one of the six calls for street lights along the Juniata Gap Road walking and biking path.
The city is applying for $644,000 from the state's Multimodal Transportation Fund for that work.
That grant would require a 30% match that would be covered from its Liquid Fuels allotment or the ARPA grant.
Council also endorsed creation of a skate park, creation of a parklet in Garden Heights, improvements at Vets Field and replacement of sidewalks on Seventh and Eighth streets between Sixth and Bell avenues.
In addition to sending the five Garfield Park-area lots to the city, the RA recently accepted 16 vacant lots from the city, paying $1 for each of them.
Most were the sites of blighted buildings that the city demolished, according to White.
Until about 12 years ago, the city routinely acquired blighted properties before tearing down the buildings on them.
Since then, the city doesn't acquire such properties before demolitions, although it can lien them for demolition costs.
Many of the 16 lots are probably destined to be acquired by neighbors for expansion of their side yards, according to White.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.