The former Altmyer Apple Farm was sold to the Township with restrictions to preserve and reuse the barn structure. This highly visible eight acre parcel greets thousands of travelers each day traveling along Route 910 between Interstate 79 and Wexford, PA.
Mackin was hired to produce a master plan in four months that would provide a vision and a guide for park development. Our team included Landscape Architects an Architect and a Carpenter to investigate and make recommendation for the re-use of the barn, farm outbuildings and best practices for the site.
The Mackin design team provided recreation and leisure programs and facilities that would fit the sloping site, the character and former history of site and barn, the surrounding homes, and high traffic volume roadway.
Sustainable solutions were recommended for the site design, building design, construction materials, maintenance and operation practices to reduce overall project costs and long-term operations. The team met with the park board several times and held a public open house to develop the project design.
Recommendations were for a nature and environmental learning theme; and included year round activities for all ages with in-door and out-door program space; after school programs and senior programs for art, dance and environmental education; a large adventure play/nature play space, community gardens, a memorial garden, a renovated and leasable barn and new pavilion structures, bio retention at parking lots, edible gardens, maintenance building, meadows and fields, native planting buffers, and trails to connect the community.
