Altoona not planning to abandon parks

Ordinances prelude to unification of ground at Fairview, Garfield

Ordinances introduced at the most recent City Council meeting that call for abandoning pieces of ground within Fairview and Garfield parks are not a prelude to the city abandoning those parks -- despite Facebook speculation, according to city officials.

Rather, the abandonments of unopened -- never constructed -- alleys and streets in Fairview and Garfield parks will prepare for a legal unification of the ground at each park, a procedure that is connected with the city's having received a grant two years ago for what are now nearly completed improvements at Garfield, said Public Works Director Nate Kissell.

The recent posting of an orange notice at Fairview Park about the proposed "vacation" of two paper alleys within the park has led to worries expressed on the Blair County Happenings Facebook site that the city is planning to replace the park with homes, as it is trying to do with Orchard Park in Logantown -- an effort that has triggered an opposition lawsuit.

The situation with Fairview and Garfield is altogether different than the one at Orchard Park, according to city officials.

The proposed abandonment of the two paper alleys within Fairview along with two paper alleys and two paper streets at Garfield are in preparation for the consolidation of all the lots in both of those parks, which in turn is designed to accompany a deed restriction to guarantee properties will remain parks in perpetuity, according to Kissell.

That is the opposite of what the city is trying to do at Orchard Park.

The deed restriction that guarantees that Garfield remains a park was a prerequisite for receiving the $350,000 grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, according to Kissell.

During discussions that surrounded the granting of that money for Garfield, DCNR asked the city to add deed restrictions to guarantee continuity for parks for which it had previously received such grants, including Fairview, Kissell said.

"Along the way, this step got missed," Kissel said of those previous grants. "It goes back probably 30 years."

The city decided it was best, while correcting those old oversights, to combine the multiple lots comprising the parks into one parcel each to make things cleaner, according to Kissell.

The city is also merging lots at Hamilton and Kiesel parks, but neither has any unopened rights-of-way, said City Manager Christopher McGuire.

The city has never received a grant for Orchard Park, according to Kissell.

The Garfield project includes new parking, a paved walking trail, an aggregate-paved hiking trail on the hill above the park, new lighting for the trails and recently constructed pickleball courts, new fencing around one of two ballfields and new playground equipment, according to McGuire.

The entire project cost about $750,000, Kissell said.

Money from the city's $39.6 million American Rescue Plan Act funding paid for what the grant didn't cover, he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.