It's official!
We have launched the Enright Park Neighborhood Association, founded to give voices to residents, business owners, organizations, and other community members adjacent to Enright Parklet a voice.
Being a member helps to build a forum for community dialogue,
and a way to share information about what is happening in our community.
And it helps us to build strength as our community questions the
development that is being proposed without our input.
Our goals are to:
FOSTER community engagement in the planning and development process in our neighborhood
ENHANCE the livability of the neighborhood through collaborative processes
SUPPORT existing community members and the struggle to maintain affordability in the face of a changing East Liberty
COMMUNICATE information about what is happening in our neighborhood, East Liberty, and throughout the East End
Please become a member today by completing the membership form here. You don't live or work in the neighborhood? You can still become a Friend of Enright Park and support the community goals! Use the membership form to indicate your support.
Friday, March 18, 2016
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Community Meeting on the Future of the Park!
PLEASE JOIN YOUR NEIGHBORS FOR AN UPDATE ON THE FUTURE OF ENRIGHT PARKLET!
WHEN: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 from 6 PM - 7:30 PM
WHERE: Community Room at East Liberty Place South, located at 5836 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh 15206
Join your friends and neighbors for an update on the planning efforts for Enright Parklet and the Penn Plaza redevelopment project. Community participation in this process is critical to its success and to the future of East Liberty’s public spaces!
Children are also welcome to this meeting. Community members will have activities for them.
This meeting is hosted by the Department of City Planning, City of Pittsburgh.
For more information, contact Justin Miller, senior planner, at justin.miller@pittsburghpa.gov.
For information about the efforts of the East Liberty community to preserve and improve Enright Parklet as a public asset, please check out the following:
TALK to us on the community blog: enrightpark.org
FOLLOW us on Twitter: @enrightpark
LIKE us on Facebook: Save Enright Parklet
VISIT Enright Parklet, located at the intersection of Eva Street and Amber Street in East Liberty. Bring your basketball, your bike, your picnic basket, or a good book!
QUESTIONS? info@enrightpark.org
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Rezoning Hearing Postponed! Community Meeting about Park Planning Next Week!
Big updates in these parts!
The Mayor's Office announced yesterday that the rezoning hearing on the park and Penn Plaza would be postponed until Tuesday, March 22 at 1:30 PM in order to allow the community planning process to move forward without predetermined outcomes. See the full press release here.
This is fantastic news and we really appreciate the Administration's efforts to fully engage the community in this important planning process.
Thank you to everyone who helped us lobby for this important schedule change.
(and remember to come to the rescheduled hearing as well!)
Community Park Planning Meeting: Tuesday, February 23 at 6 PM
The next big step will be a public meeting on the planning efforts for the proposed redevelopment of the park and Penn Plaza. A core working group of residents, stakeholders, the City, and the developers will be reporting out on the work to date to the community, and soliciting input.
The meeting will be held at East Liberty Place South, 5836 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh 15206. Children are welcome to attend and to participate! We will have activities for them as well.
Save the Date: Tuesday, March 15 at 6 PM, location TBD.
This will be the second of the two community meetings about the park planning efforts. Stay tuned for more details.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Important Updates and Upcoming Meetings!
 |
| This is why we do what we do. This is our community. This is our future |
It’s been a while since there has been an update and apologies for the long silence. There have been a number of conversations happening and trying to get a handle on how to deal with the park situation.
Public Hearing at City Council on the Rezoning of the Park and Penn Plaza Sites
· There is a public hearing on Tuesday, February 16th at 1:30
PM in City Council chambers (5th Floor, 414 Grant Street aka the
City-County Building, Downtown Pittsburgh). This hearing is for the rezoning
of the park and the Penn Plaza site from residential districts to a mixed-use
commercial district. PLEASE come to make our voices heard at City Council.
The hearing is for Bills Number 2015-2300 and 2016-0033 for Enright Parklet. If you do not sign-up to speak, you will have one minute of time. If you sign-up, you will have 3 minutes (same as at Planning Commission)
Park Planning Workshops and Meetings
· There is a planning process that is beginning to
get under way about what COULD happen for the park and the adjacent property. A
group of neighbors have been meeting with City Planning and
pushing on them to hold a community process. There will be a meeting on Tuesday, February 23rd at 6 PM
to talk about park planning. This meeting will be held at East Liberty Place
South, located at the corner of Penn Avenue and South Beatty Street. PLEASE
come and share this with others. More information to follow. A second meeting will be held on Tuesday, March
15th at 6 PM, so please save the date. Location TBD.
Isn't this all a little backwards? Yes, yes it is...
· Under normal circumstances, the planning would happen BEFORE the properties are rezoned. These are not normal circumstances.
Because this planning process is happening AFTER
the public hearing on the zone change, we are asking that Council TABLE the
decision on the rezoning until the process is complete. If you plan to speak at
Council, please consider including this in your talking points. We don’t need
them to outright deny the zone change, but as a community, we need more time to
work with the City on the planning process, and ensure the best possible outcome for the community that lives here!
There will be additional updates in the next few days as well, so please watch here, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
We Didn't Win...
...But we are hopeful that we didn't completely lose yet.
Planning Commission approved the rezoning of the Penn Plaza site and the Park to an AP commercial-residential mixed-use district on the hearing on October 27. It was a loooooooooong hearing (over 2 hours of passionate testimony). I won't recap it here. There are some excellent articles about it already out, most notably Tim Schooley's Pittsburgh Business Times piece here. Also see Ryan Deto's post on the City Paper Blogh here*, Diana Nelson Jones' Post-Gazette piece here, and Tom Fontaine's Tribune Review piece here.
My favorite parts were testimony by Kai Bamberg-Roth (age 7: “I spend almost as much time there (at the park) as I do at home. It's kind of my childhood,”), Marnie Quick's eloquent speaking on what it is like to grow up in the park and this neighborhood, and Mel Packer's rousing testimony on why the loss of a park and affordable housing in this community should be of such concern to people in every community. I love these people.
Here's the text of the final motion and conditions that were placed upon the approval:
RECOMMENDED MOTION
That the Planning Commission of the City of Pittsburgh Recommends Approval to City Council of
Zone Change Petition No. 783 to rezone 9.37 acres of property known as 5600-5704 Penn Avenue and Enright Parklet, from Residential Planned Unit Development District, and R3-M, Residential Three-Unit, Moderate Density District, to AP, Mixed-use Planned Unit Development; and that the Commission Approves the associated PLDP as filed by property owners Pennley Park South, Inc., and the City of Pittsburgh subject to the following condition:
1. The Planning Commission shall not approve an application for a Final Land Development
Plan or any other development prior to or simultaneous to the review and approval of a
revised and complete Preliminary Land Development Plan, which shall include the
following:
a. Summary of all public process with the surrounding impacted communities, and
explanation of how community input has influenced the development proposal;
b. A public open space improvements plan that incorporates community input;
c. A final circulation and site plan that considers north-south and east-west street
and pedestrian connection options across the site; and
d. Design guidelines and standards for the entire site.
2. All submissions designating street and site configuration shall at this time be considered
for illustrative purposes only;
3. Public open space within this AP Zoning District shall be designed to serve the
community as well as the residents and clientele of the future development; and
4. The total area of public open space and public amenities shall be no less than the area of
Enright Park. If the City retains ownership of the park property, the open space shall be
presented to the Planning Commission with a maintenance and site improvement plan
for integration of the park into the development.
It's time for East Liberty to take control of this ship and steer it in the right direction. PLEASE get involved and help us map a path forward. DON'T let a public park be sold to a private developer. This is a dangerous precedent for every park in this city.
Thanks for listening.
* My clarification to the City Paper post is that I would say I am pleased that the Planning Commission put some conditions on the approval, (better than nothing) but I am reserving judgement as to how effective they really can be. It's time for East Liberty to drive its future. And its present.
Planning Commission approved the rezoning of the Penn Plaza site and the Park to an AP commercial-residential mixed-use district on the hearing on October 27. It was a loooooooooong hearing (over 2 hours of passionate testimony). I won't recap it here. There are some excellent articles about it already out, most notably Tim Schooley's Pittsburgh Business Times piece here. Also see Ryan Deto's post on the City Paper Blogh here*, Diana Nelson Jones' Post-Gazette piece here, and Tom Fontaine's Tribune Review piece here.
My favorite parts were testimony by Kai Bamberg-Roth (age 7: “I spend almost as much time there (at the park) as I do at home. It's kind of my childhood,”), Marnie Quick's eloquent speaking on what it is like to grow up in the park and this neighborhood, and Mel Packer's rousing testimony on why the loss of a park and affordable housing in this community should be of such concern to people in every community. I love these people.
Here's the text of the final motion and conditions that were placed upon the approval:
RECOMMENDED MOTION
That the Planning Commission of the City of Pittsburgh Recommends Approval to City Council of
Zone Change Petition No. 783 to rezone 9.37 acres of property known as 5600-5704 Penn Avenue and Enright Parklet, from Residential Planned Unit Development District, and R3-M, Residential Three-Unit, Moderate Density District, to AP, Mixed-use Planned Unit Development; and that the Commission Approves the associated PLDP as filed by property owners Pennley Park South, Inc., and the City of Pittsburgh subject to the following condition:
1. The Planning Commission shall not approve an application for a Final Land Development
Plan or any other development prior to or simultaneous to the review and approval of a
revised and complete Preliminary Land Development Plan, which shall include the
following:
a. Summary of all public process with the surrounding impacted communities, and
explanation of how community input has influenced the development proposal;
b. A public open space improvements plan that incorporates community input;
c. A final circulation and site plan that considers north-south and east-west street
and pedestrian connection options across the site; and
d. Design guidelines and standards for the entire site.
2. All submissions designating street and site configuration shall at this time be considered
for illustrative purposes only;
3. Public open space within this AP Zoning District shall be designed to serve the
community as well as the residents and clientele of the future development; and
4. The total area of public open space and public amenities shall be no less than the area of
Enright Park. If the City retains ownership of the park property, the open space shall be
presented to the Planning Commission with a maintenance and site improvement plan
for integration of the park into the development.
It's time for East Liberty to take control of this ship and steer it in the right direction. PLEASE get involved and help us map a path forward. DON'T let a public park be sold to a private developer. This is a dangerous precedent for every park in this city.
Thanks for listening.
* My clarification to the City Paper post is that I would say I am pleased that the Planning Commission put some conditions on the approval, (better than nothing) but I am reserving judgement as to how effective they really can be. It's time for East Liberty to drive its future. And its present.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Planning Commission Hearing - Tuesday, Oct 27 at 2 PM
The City's Planning Commission is voting on the rezoning of the public park from a residential district to a commercial district on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 2 PM. This is the first step in the process to make the park part of the private development and to turn it into a retail street. The public hearing will be held at 200 Ross Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, First Floor Hearing Room.
Granting such a change would allow the owner of Pennley Park South (known as Penn Plaza Apartments) to use Enright Park as part of his redevelopment. Instead of being filled with basketball games, playing children and picnicking families, under the submitted plan, the park would be paved over and used as a traffic entry to the new residential, retail and commercial development.
This is your time to tell the City Planning Commission that the timetable for the rezoning of the entire area including both the city park and the Pennley Park development is unreasonably short and provides inadequate opportunity for meaningful resident participation in a planning process. The developer has been planning this project for over a year; the community only came to know of it less than three weeks ago.
No decision regarding rezoning of public land in the Pennley Park South and Enright Park area should take place until the completion of a comprehensive planning process in which all affected stakeholders have the opportunity to participate.
If you can PLEASE attend this hearing, Members of the public can give 3 minutes of testimony. Make the voices of East Liberty heard!
If you cannot attend this hearing, you can STILL provide comment that will be considered. HERE is a link to the "commitment form" that allows you to express your opinion. Download it, fill it out, and send it to:
Department of City Planning, Land Use Control
Attn: File #795 ZCP#783
200 Ross Street, 3rd Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
OR
email it to Corey Layman, the Zoning Administrator at Corey.Layman@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Granting such a change would allow the owner of Pennley Park South (known as Penn Plaza Apartments) to use Enright Park as part of his redevelopment. Instead of being filled with basketball games, playing children and picnicking families, under the submitted plan, the park would be paved over and used as a traffic entry to the new residential, retail and commercial development.
This is your time to tell the City Planning Commission that the timetable for the rezoning of the entire area including both the city park and the Pennley Park development is unreasonably short and provides inadequate opportunity for meaningful resident participation in a planning process. The developer has been planning this project for over a year; the community only came to know of it less than three weeks ago.
No decision regarding rezoning of public land in the Pennley Park South and Enright Park area should take place until the completion of a comprehensive planning process in which all affected stakeholders have the opportunity to participate.
If you can PLEASE attend this hearing, Members of the public can give 3 minutes of testimony. Make the voices of East Liberty heard!
If you cannot attend this hearing, you can STILL provide comment that will be considered. HERE is a link to the "commitment form" that allows you to express your opinion. Download it, fill it out, and send it to:
Department of City Planning, Land Use Control
Attn: File #795 ZCP#783
200 Ross Street, 3rd Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
OR
email it to Corey Layman, the Zoning Administrator at Corey.Layman@city.pittsburgh.pa.us
Monday, October 12, 2015
Pop-Up Play Date : Cardboard City!
We are super excited to announce our first Pop-Up Play Date @ Enright Parklet!
Please join us on Friday, October 16, 2015 from 9 AM - 12 noon to help us build Cardboard City! Pittsburgh Public Schools are closed on Friday, so bring a picnic and stay for lunch.
For more information, please follow Save Enright Parklet on Facebook and follow @enrightpark on Twitter.
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