Council tweaks plans for Central Park; construction timeline goals conflict with annual Christmas tree installation
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Johnstown City Council is tweaking its plans to transform Central Park with aims to break ground this fall.
The plan, designed last year by New York City-based Scape Landscape Architecture with local CJL Engineering as a subcontractor, will largely remain intact except for a few changes, CJL project leader Alyssa Rouser said. Council discussed the plan at a workshop Wednesday.
CJL is taking over the completion of the plan.
The former iteration of the plan had no cement walkway through the park. Rouser said CJL recommends adding a path cutting through the park, corner to corner. The path would be anchored by a water feature in the center of the park, which she suggested could be the existing fountain or a new feature.
The council generally agreed that a path through the park would be a good idea but unanimously dismissed the idea of retaining the current fountain.
'The fountain has maintenance issues,' council member Chuck Arnone said. 'I don't know what we can put in there, but that particular fountain is not worth putting in the money to save.'
The fountain's stonework has become high-maintenance over the years and is not suitable for the area's weather, he said.
CJL is working to finalize a design, a plan to advertise for construction bids in June. A construction contract would then be awarded in August and construction could begin after Labor Day and be wrapped up in the fall of 2026, Rouser said.
Funding for Johnstown's plan to transform Central Park is coming from the federal government, but it has an expiration date on it. The funds must be used by the end of 2026, the council said.
City officials have designated $8 million in American Rescue Plan funds provided for COVID-19 pandemic relief to the overall budget for the Central Park project.
With construction potentially beginning in the fall, a hallmark Johnstown event could be in jeopardy.
For 10 years, the volunteer- led nonprofit organization Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership has funded an annual Christmas season celebration from November to January in Central Park. The key feature of that celebration is the installation of its 40-foot fiber optic Christmas tree in the center of the park.
The tree and the accompanying Christmas Village have drawn thousands of people downtown each year to celebrate the Christmas season.
Council members at first indicated Wednesday that the Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership was seeking alternative plans for the tree this year, but Nick Spinelli, a member of the organization and 2025 city council candidate who by chance was present at the meeting, informed the council that there had been no such discussion.
After the meeting, council members said they would find a way to accommodate the tree.
'We will be working collaboratively to find available space for the tree,' Councilwoman Laura Huchel said.
Councilwoman Marie Mock agreed.
'We will make it work,' she said.
Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership President Melissa Radovanic issued a statement to the Tribune-Democrat following the meeting.
'I am stunned that the Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership would find out in a public council workshop that the Christmas Tree in Central Park and Christmas Village need to be relocated this year,' she wrote in an email. 'We have had zero communication from city management or City Council regarding Christmas. The last update was provided to us in February 2024 from then City Manager Ethan Imhoff. Additionally, beyond construction, all initial plans, as we were told, were to allow for the Tree and Christmas Village in perpetuity which also no longer seems to be the case as far as the Christmas Village is concerned.'
Radovanic said the volunteer organization has put more than $450,000 worth of enhancements and initiatives into Central Park and Downtown since 2015.
'Where is the respect? I'm totally shocked,' she said.
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