Arsenal Park Masterplan Update!

Hello and Happy New Year!

We hope that you enjoyed a happy and healthy holiday season.  We also hope that you have been thinking about Arsenal Park and that ideas have been churning regarding the preservation and revitalization of the park over the last few weeks.

We held a community meeting in November to provide an overview of what the Arsenal Park Master Plan would be, and how residents and stakeholders can get and stay involved in the process.  If you were unable to make the meeting, we have posted a copy of the powerpoint presentation provided at the meeting on our website.  You can access the powerpoint here: Arsenal Park Plan Presentation UPDATED. We hope you will check it out, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Meeting participants also had an opportunity to discuss the future of the park and the master plan with representatives from Lawrenceville United, Lawrenceville Corporation, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, and Friends of Arsenal Park. Many elected officials were represented including Councilwoman Deb Gross, Senator Jim Ferlo, and State Representative Adam Ravenstahl as well as community partners including Tree Pittsburgh and the Lawrenceville Historical Society. The City’s Department of Public Works and City Planning were also on hand to discuss why a master plan is important in terms of prioritizing capital improvements and how the master plan of Arsenal Park fits into the City’s Open Space Comprehensive Plan.

As outlined in the meeting, a steering committee will be created for the project that will be populated by residents, stakeholders, and community leaders and representative of our vibrant and diverse community.   The Steering Committee will help to guide the project through the planning process, however even more important to the planning process will be YOU! The Plan will be created and driven by YOU!  We will be scheduling sessions for residents in the near future to join us in remembering and recording the history of the park and the memories we cherish, as well as planning for the future of the park.  Over the past year, you have told us that you want the park to be more accessible, to be well-maintained, for the historic structures and elements to be preserved, for better lighting and infrastructure improvements, improved connectivity throughout the site, and more.  We will be working to create a Request for Proposals (RFP) that includes a scope of work that reflects your priorities to be shared publicly so that we are able to hire a consultant team that will help us create a great plan for our great park.  While that is underway, we can certainly begin talking about the park and what we want to see happen there.

We will be in touch soon with dates and times for upcoming meetings and in the meantime , please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Thank you!
Friends of Arsenal Park, Lawrenceville United, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy