THE revival of an earlier proposal developing Melvin Jones into an underground parking while retaining the football ground was among the suggestions during a public consultation.
In the weekly Talakayan sa Environment Code radio forum of the Baguio Regreening Movement (BRM), Baguio City Councilor Mylen Yaranon said during the consultations for the proposed rehabilitation and development of Burnham Park and the public market complex with stakeholders yielded positive result.
But this will have to be studied, according to Yaranon, as it should consider its present environment and how it would affect traffic.
“I know it is possible with the right engineering designs but the problem is on social acceptability. Why should we construct a very big parking area? Are we providing for the whole city, or central business district, or should we only provide parking for the park goers? This is a very large area already for parking and we have to consider the area as a place where people converge specially during calamities and disasters because it is the most stable area for them,” Yaranon added.
The public consultations last week have seen positive results with majority of the stakeholders of the city not only attending but have given recommendations as well.
“What is good with the public consultations is that when the participants arrive and attend, they give out good suggestions which will be included in the plan to which we are open to suggestions before the finalization of the plan which is very important,” Yaranon said.
Yaranon has been working with both the Burnham Park and market technical working group tasked to oversee the rehabilitation efforts of both facilities.
“The public consultation is a vital part for the development of the market and Burnham Park. All inputs must be placed within the plan,” Yaranon added.
Among the suggestions for Burnham Park is the planting of fruit bearing trees.
“There was a suggestion for the possible planting of fruit bearing trees in the park but I would still have to ask our consultants and the technical working group if this would be feasible, I would still have to determine if this would be suitable for the park. Another was to make the Jadewell area green and to convert the old library into a parking area, so after this public consultations, we are set to meet on November 26 with the technical working group to include all the inputs which we will be analyzing before it would be finalized by our consultants who is doing the plan,” Yaranon stated.
Meanwhile, under the market development, a new zoning, design and loading and unloading areas aimed to ease congestion in the city have been discussed, while over 4,000 public market vendors are awaiting the approval of plans for its redevelopment and improvements.