Latest news with #CommunityConservationPartnershipsProgram
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
DNCR unveils new $321K park in Johnstown
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) — The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) announced the opening of a new community park in Johnstown. The DCNR invested $160,800 in the development of Minersville Community Park, which features a walking path, a half-court basketball court, a pavilion, a parking area and a playground. The project, which was recently completed, was part of the DCNR's Community Conservation Partnerships Program. 'This park is a tremendous step in improving access to nature in one of Pennsylvania's key urban communities,' DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said. 'Thank you to everyone on the ground who worked to make this park possible for Johnstown. Present and future generations will be able to enjoy nature here for years to come thanks to this important work.' The park project, which totaled $321,600, was made possible through a $150,800 investment from the City of Johnstown, a $10,000 donation from Robert Ramos and support from the Johnstown Community Redevelopment Authority, Minersville Polish Alliance and community members. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scranton celebrates revamped Robinson Park on East Mountain
SCRANTON — The revamped Robinson Park on East Mountain sports new looks and amenities. City officials, stakeholders and others attended a ribbon cutting Monday to celebrate the $1.1 million project that brought to Robinson Park new disabled-accessible playground equipment, parking, walkways, a multiuse court for basketball and pickleball, and a trail through woods, as well as a fishing dock and kayak launch at Mountain Lake across the street from the playground. 'This project, as you see from the large group of people here (attending the ribbon cutting), has been a true team effort up here on East Mountain,' Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said. The effort involved the city, state agencies, the East Mountain Neighborhood Association and the nonprofit Deutsch Institute, which has a long-term lease on a building at the park, among others. 'We got the money together and made sure that we always worked with the East Mountain residents and built a park that they and their kids are going to want to use.' Mayor Paige Cognetti, project supporters, and community member celebrate the completed upgrades to Robison Park in Scranton by cutting a ribbon on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) Renovations at Robinson Park were funded through a $481,600 Community Conservation Partnerships Program grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Bureau of Recreation and Conservation awarded in September 2022. The city also allocated as grant matches $502,885 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, called ARPA, and $141,078 in city dollars. Encompassing 30.42 acres, Robinson Park at 98 Mountain Lake Road is the city's second-largest park and the only city park with a lake. Much of the park footprint is woods and the lake. The trail winds along a newly paved 0.8-mile loop through the woods. The Deutsch Institute also has renovations of the building underway. When completed, possibly later this year, the building with a distinctive A-frame roof will be used by the institute for offices and to provide recreational and wellness programming to people with disabilities and the surrounding community. A building leased by the nonprofit Deutsch Institute at the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) The city's 2021 Recreation Needs Assessment and Master Plan evaluated conditions of all of the city's parks and recreation facilities, proposed improvements and raised prospects of fundamental changes to some of them. The review recommended improved access to Mountain Lake at Robinson Park. The renovation project achieved that with recent installations of an accessible fishing dock at one end of the lake and a kayak launch on the other side. The fishing dock at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. The new addition was park of the city's $1.1 million upgrades to the park. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)The new fishing dock at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) The city also improved stormwater management at the park to prevent drainage issues. Residents earlier this month began taking advantage of the renovated park by using the new kayak launch and joining a neighborhood Bunny Hunt during the Easter holiday weekend. Robinson Park is the latest park to get improvements under the Cognetti administration. Some of the others have included Billy Barrett Park in Minooka, Oakmont Park near Lake Scranton and the North Scranton Mini Park. Other park sites getting new aquatic and rehabilitation projects include the Novembrino Splash Pad in West Scranton, Connell Park in South Scranton, the former defunct Penn Ridge site on Capouse Avenue, Nay Aug Park in the Hill Section and Weston Field. Another project will overhaul the Grace Street Playground in the Plot Section. Robinson Park dates to 1911, when Scranton acquired the park property from Mina Robinson, according to a public notice in the Oct. 6, 1911, edition of The Tribune Republican. Robinson and her husband, Philip, who were Bavarian immigrants from Germany, were among the city's early brewers. After her husband died, Robinson, a widow with 11 children, became a successful entrepreneur in her own right, in brewing and banking. Mina Robinson in 1911 conveyed to the city of Scranton a park property on East Mountain. The site is called Robinson Park. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO) * Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, holding large scissors, cuts a ribbon on the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The playground at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. The amenity was part of the city's efforts to upgrade Scranton's second largest park. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * Mayor Paige Cognetti, project supporters, and community member celebrate the completed upgrades to Robison Park in Scranton by cutting a ribbon on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * The fishing dock at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. The new addition was park of the city's $1.1 million upgrades to the park. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * A basketball/pickleball court at the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * A building leased by the nonprofit Deutsch Institute at the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The new fishing dock at Robison Park in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * Mina Robinson in 1911 conveyed to the city of Scranton a park property on East Mountain. The site is called Robinson Park. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO) Show Caption 1 of 15 Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, holding large scissors, cuts a ribbon on the newly renovated Robinson Park on East Mountain in Scranton on Monday, April 28, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Expand
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scranton plans $1M upgrade to 16-acre Connell Park in South Side
SCRANTON — The city plans a $1.1million upgrade next year to 16-acre Connell Park in South Side, the mayor recently announced. Improvements to the park at 800 Gibbons St. and South Webster Avenue would include a new wellness loop trail, biking and hiking trails, a new playground, upgrades to the dog park there and various accessibility improvements. Scranton City Council on March 4 unanimously introduced a resolution authorizing the city to contract with Greenman-Pedersen Inc. of Moosic for up to $105,590 for engineering and design of improvements to Connell Park. The contract covers design and construction oversight, and the city expects work on upgrades to begin in 2026. The resolution is on council's agenda for its meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall for a vote on adoption. Meanwhile, renovations to Connell Park's swimming pool area that began last year, funded by federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars, remain ongoing and should be completed in time for the 2025 summer swim season, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said in the March 4 announcement. 'Our investment into our parks continues and we are excited about the potential Connell Park holds through our planned renovation project,' Cognetti said. 'As we prepare to reopen the Connell Park pool this summer, we're updating features that will make this a multigenerational attraction in South Scranton.' The Connell Park rehabilitation project is funded in part by a $381,594 grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program and a $149,400 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Community Conservation Partnerships Program. The city will match the total $530,994 in grant awards with federal Community Development Block Grant funds. While the city describes Connell Park as nearly 16 acres, a site development report from 2021 says the park encompasses 20.4 acres. One section of the park contains a sloped woodsy area. Situated on higher ground, Connell Park offers views of West Mountain across the city. Some of Connell Park's facets are unique in the city's park system. Connell Park currently has Scranton's only dog park. This canine run area has two separate fenced-in sections, including one for larger dogs over 30 pounds and an adjacent one for smaller dogs under 30 pounds. The city plans to eventually put the city's second dog park on a lot at Albright Avenue and Marion Street, next to the redeveloped Lace Village at the former Scranton Lace factory complex. Connell Park also has the city's only bicycle 'pump track,' built in 2021. Pump tracks feature a series of small hills in a loop for bicycle riders to generate momentum with body movements, by pushing down and pulling up on their bikes. The Anthracite Bicycle Coalition also uses the former concession stand building at Connell Park for the first bicycle cooperative in the city, called Cycle Kitchen. It provides used bikes to new owners and provides space, tools and guidance for recipients to fix their bikes. The coalition in May held a grand opening of the Cycle Kitchen, which overlooks the pump track. The city last year put a new roof on the Cycle Kitchen building, said Anthracite Bicycle Coalition board President Gene McDonough. He looks forward to the city's revitalization of Connell Park. 'It is a great thing. It ties into everything we are doing' at Connell Park, McDonough said. * A plaque dated 2006 on a stone at Connell Park in South Scranton on Monday, March 10, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The small dog park area at Connell Park in South Scranton on Monday, March 10, 2025. The dog park area has two fenced-in sections, including one for larger dogs over 30 pounds and one for smaller dogs under 30 pounds. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * Dogs mingle at the dog park at Connell Park in South Scranton on Monday, March 10, 2025. The dog park area has two fenced-in sections, including one for larger dogs over 30 pounds and one for smaller dogs under 30 pounds. The dogs here are separated by a fence between the two sections. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The swimming pool area under renovation at Connell Park in South Scranton on Monday, March 10, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * A plaque on a flagpole base dated 1949 at Connell Park in South Scranton on Monday, March 10, 2025. A fenced dog park section is in the background. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The swimming pool area under renovation at Connell Park in South Scranton on Monday, March 10, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * The Anthracite Bicycle Coalition's Cycle Kitchen bike workshop at a former concession stand at Connell Park in Scranton on Monday, March 10, 2025. Show Caption 1 of 7 A plaque dated 2006 on a stone at Connell Park in South Scranton on Monday, March 10, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Expand An aerial view of Connell Park in Scranton Monday, March 10, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Mark Dryden, of Moosic, plays fetch with his dogs Huckleberry and Liam at the dog park located in Connell Park in Scranton Monday, March 10, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Claudio Robles, of Scranton, pushes his children Cameron, 3, and Camila, 6, on the swings at Connell Park in Scranton Monday, March 10, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Jaelyn Munoz, 9 , of Scranton, hangs from the monkey bars at the Connell Park playground in Scranton Monday, March 10, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)A slide is broken in the center at Connell Park in Scranton Monday, March 10, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
