Use community input and involvement to achieve a healthy urban ecosystem, improving recreational, educational and aesthetic values and finally resolving the century old problems of water quality

• Celebrate the water
• Create cultural connections
  
• Increase/Expand access to the park
  
• Encourage community education through pro-active signage and icons

• Culvert steps should be designed for siting and watching and access for maint vehicles.
• Establish a warning system for storm surge, provide points of egress.
• Public art opportunity whereby/bells or other devices can be activated by Stormflow.
• Establish a "stream mark" beginning at Braddock Ave. which can be used to outline the culverted stream in the upper watershed communities.
• Public / community art opportunity.
• Create community ed center/info at foodland entrance.
• Target homeowner retrofit education to benefit the stream.
  Connect to the community explore corporate sponsorship of homeowner retrofit

• Municipal partnerships should be highlighted here.

• Address difficult storm events,
• Constrain access to the culvert.
  
• Floatables control - Collect debris, allowing for the flow of water.
  
• Traffic at the entrance is a problem,
• Action: Focus on the design as a local PEDESTRIAN access point.
• Should allow maint sequipment, and cleanout access to the stilling pond.
  Maintain parking for business

• Ecological restoration which seperates the stream ecosystem from sewer infrastructure. Restore the floodplain, stabilizes waterflow and minimizes sewage impact.
• Restoration model for region
• CSO management model for country

• Transform the lower Frick Experience
• Create a better ballfield in a new location
• Add stream meanders and flood plain
• Use natural materials and minimize concrete wherever possible.
• Design, plan and institutionalize sustainability

• Interpret, information- education and establishing signage
  
• Design for mtn bikers do not ignore them
  
• Create limited walkways in sensitive areas for ADA access and education

Challenges:

• Reconsider parking- Fern Hollow Creek relationship
• make sure peak parking use is accomodated
• Design with permeable surface or other appropriate stormwater apps.

A meadow restoration would provide the best possible design solution given the greenway goal of restored and supported healthy diverse ecosystem.

While the preference is for a meadow restoration the community planners recognize the value of diverse human uses and recognize the need for ballfields in Pittsburgh. If there is to be a ballfield at this site it must consider the following goals and guidelines.

An integrated design including a ballfield, a meadow restoration and an interpretive center on this singular site. Each element should embrace multi-benefit solutions and a green design program targeting innovative structure, utilities and systems.

1. Construct a Commercial Avenue pedestrian crossway just south of the parkway bridge with user activated traffic control.
2. Use the Summerset entrance and its periphery for vehicular access and parking.
   
3. Create a sidewalk on the URA (slag) side of the road.
4. Put the interpretive center close to the stream but visible from the pedestrian crossing.
5. If the Commercial Avenue bridge is reconstructed, refurbish the underpass in such a way as to be wildlife friendly.
6. Design the playing field to mitigate stormwater flow.
7. Preserve as much meadow as possible.
8. Develop the interpretive center with an onsite steward and integrate the ecological reality of the site into the body of the architecture.
9. Explore the possibility of removing the concrete fill, and dropping the entire field to its historic floodplain.
10. Use no pesticides or herbicides in the management of the site.
11. No ballfield lighting, no sound sytem.

• Design the site for multi-benefit use, realize diverse human needs and create a threshold for the diverse audience to access an ecosystem based experience.
• Explore the potential for the existing field to be lowered, allowing for dual function as playing field and ecologically designed flood plain.
• Design the ballfield and its meadow environ in such a way that stormwater runoff from the Parkway and Commercial Avenue can be detained, cleaned and infiltrated into the groundwater.

• Pedestrian crossing the road is a problem
• Parking and vehicular entry onto Commercial is an issue
• Anything that adds to the traffic will negatively affect the wildlife.
• The playing field will interrupt the ecosystem, and minimize biological connectivity at a key point in the greenway. This is counter to the greenway-plans stated vision and goals.

Restore the site through a mix of ecological and cultural processes. Target education, art and revegetation.

Maintaining silence in the quietest point in the greenway.

• Renovate the existing bridge for pedestrians.
• Provide public access to the stream.
• Revegetate steep slopes using natural succession processes.
• Celebrate the heart of the greenway with ecological art.

• The stream (clean and ecologically restored!).
• Existing bridge and its downstream area,
• Two areas of existing floodplain

• Equitable handicap access.
• Integrating the Summerset bridge into the intent of the greenway.

Restored riparian ecosystem, minimal effort maximum benefit.

• Safe pedestrian connectivity between the slag entry and Duck Hollow.
• Bus service to residents and recreational users.

• Celebrate the entry to the slag site/trail.
• Enable public access to the stream and river.

• Army Corp of Engineers project to improve the aquatic habitat in the NMR embayment.
• Duck Hollow/flood plain wildlife sanctuary (complimenting the above).
• Celebrate the Greenway entry with a butterfly-habitat garden.
• Simple kiosk with water, toilets, fishermans sink, info board, locking bike rack.

• Mon-Fayette Expressway (Potential public trail investment opportunity)
• Pedestrian safety under the existing RR bridge.
• Property ownership.