ABOUT PEOPLE FOR PALMER PARK

Our Master Plan

The unveiling came almost exactly one year after the process began. At the November 2013 “Dream, Envision, Plan” session local residents and stakeholders provided their thoughts, ideas and vision for Palmer Park. Then a team of architects, engineers, landscape architects and urban planners started developing alternate master plans and ideas for Palmer Park. Led by The Gibbs Planning Group, the group came together under a program of the Michigan Chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Congress for New Urbanism. This process was led by Robert Gibbs, managing principal of the Birmingham urban planning firm, and David Mangum, a Gibbs urban planning associate. 

In April, ten architectural firms presented alternative master plans at the PFPP Annual Meeting.  Since then, the PFPP board, several urban planners and other key stakeholders have reviewed and considered the plans and all the ideas were crystallized into a Master Plan Proposal.  

On Nov. 20, 2014, residents got their first look the Master Plan Proposal from Robert Gibbs, an expert in urban, economic and retail planning, who shared the slide presentation to the community at Detroit Unity Temple. Rochelle Lento, president of People for Palmer Park and a resident of Palmer Woods, discussed the next steps for PFPP and area businesses and organizations.  
View Master Plan Presentation slides as presented by Robert Gibbs below.
Note: File size large (19mb)
palmerparkconsensusplanpresentation.pdf
File Size: 20420 kb
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View detailed master plan proposal below.
palmerparkmasterplan112014.pdf
File Size: 7904 kb
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Residents and PFPP members had the opportunity to ask questions and give their reactions. They were also invited to sign up for a PFPP committee or task force to advance these improvements for Palmer Park.

“This Master Plan will provide a roadmap and guiding principles for the future development of Palmer Park. It will provide a valuable tool for future planning and fundraising to make dreams become a reality in Palmer Park,” said Ms. Lento.

PFPP wants to thank the firms that gave time, energy and ideas to the master plan: Archive DS, ASTI Environmental, Campbell Planning & Architecture, Conservative Design Forum, Downtown Solutions LLC, dPOP, Hamilton Anderson Associates, Kenneth Weikal Landscape Architecture, LivingLAB: Detroit, McIntosh Poris Associates, and Gibbs Planning Group. 

“Palmer Park, designed in 1892 by America’s leading landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted while in the prime of his career, represents one of the most beautiful natural urban settings in the Midwest. The park’s proposed master plan and restoration will create an extraordinary recreational resource for its surrounding neighborhoods as well as southeast Michigan,” said Gibbs, whose Birmingham planning firm led the master plan effort.


Palmer Park: An Olmsted Park

The volunteers — some of our area’s top landscape architects, environmental experts, urban planners and architects — are thrilled to work on a master for a park that was originally laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, considered by many to be the father of American Landscape Architecture. 

Frederick Olmsted Sr. and his partner Charles Eliot designed approximately 110-acres of Palmer Park under the direction of Lizzie Palmer between 1893 and 1895. Olmsted would retire in 1895 having completed some 500 commissions. Olmsted also designed Central Park in New York City, the Emerald Necklace in Boston, and Belle Isle here in Detroit.

Olmsted’s sons, accomplished landscape architects in their own right, would go on to found the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1899. The American Society of Landscape Architects is the national professional association representing landscape architects. Starting from the original eleven members, the organization has grown to 15,428 members and 48 chapters representing all 50 states. For more information on landscape architecture and the ASLA please visit. www.asla.org 

For more information or interviews on the Master Plan, contact Stacy Varner, PFPP President,
at [email protected]
NEXT: ANNUAL MEETING & ELECTIONS