(a) The Commission, after receiving public comment, shall from time to time adopt standards and guidelines relating to City park and recreation land and facilities, including standards and guidelines relating to land use; preservation of green space; watershed management; sustainability; and the conveyance and acquisition of park and recreation land or facilities, including criteria for the assessment and evaluation of proposed conveyances or acquisitions. The Parks and Recreation Commissioner and all other City officials shall give substantial weight to the standards and guidelines adopted by the Commission when taking or considering any official action relating to the City's park or recreation land or facilities.
(b) The Commission shall assist and advise the Parks and Recreation Commissioner and such private organizations as the Commission may choose, to promote, support and enhance the image of the Fairmount Park System, other City parks, and City recreation facilities; and to expand and diversify the funding and resources for operation and capital expenditures in and for park and recreation facilities.
(c) The Commission shall convene public meetings at least quarterly, and shall provide, at each public meeting, opportunity for public comment concerning any matter within the jurisdiction of the Commission.
ANNOTATION
Law Department Note (2009): Department of Recreation and Fairmount Park Commission were reconstituted by amendment approved November 4, 2008. See Footnote to this section.
Annotation for former Section 5-601, Recreation Coordination Board:
Sources: No specific source.
Purposes: At the hearings of the Charter Commission many civic groups expressed concern and interest in the municipal function of recreation. A number believed that the coordination of recreational activities in the city (see Annotation to Section 5-600) could be materially enhanced if representatives of the various agencies involved and the public could be brought together in the form of a board to serve in an advisory capacity to the Department of Recreation on matters involving the coordination of recreational activities and of the use of recreational facilities.
Annotation for current Section 5-601 (formerly Section 5-602, Farimount Park Commission):
Sources: Act of March 26, 1867, P.L. 547, as amended.
Purposes: 1. The Commissioners of Fairmount Park are to continue to exercise the powers and perform the duties presently vested in them subject to the areas excepted by this section and by other provisions of the Charter of general application, such as those dealing with civil service and procurement. The offices of the Commissioners were established before the Constitution prohibited the delegation to special commissions of power to make, supervise or interfere with any municipal improvement, money, property or effects or to levy taxes or perform municipal functions. Constitution of Pennsylvania, Article III, Section 20. If the Commissioners were abolished, it would not have been possible to recreate a commission in this Charter with the same powers and duties. Nor were any urgent reasons present for abolishing the offices. However, because of the pressing need of a few peculiar problems, certain exceptions to the continuation of presently existing powers and duties had to be carved out.
2. The building and maintenance of roads and drives in Fairmount Park and the promulgation of regulations governing traffic there are made functions of the Department of Streets in the interests of efficiency, economy and uniformity. See Section 5-500. The Commission, however, retains control over the location of roads and drives, decides of what type they shall be, and determines the kinds of vehicles which shall be excluded from such roads and drives so that the character of Fairmount Park may be preserved.
3. Another exception is the determination of the program of recreational activities to be conducted in parks managed and operated by the Fairmount Park Commission. See Annotation to Section 5-600.
4. The duty of the head of the Park police to cooperate with the Police Commissioner is emphasized in the interests of public safety.
Notes
| 134 | Former Section 5-601, Recreation Coordination Board, deleted and former Section 5-602, Fairmount Park Commission, amended and renumbered as current Section 5-601 by approval of the voters at the election held on November 4, 2008, and certified on November 28, 2008. See Bill No. 080169 (approved August 4, 2008); Resolution No. 080181 (adopted June 19, 2008). |