Conservatory leadership commissioned award-winning author and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy, and Karen McCoy of Myers Schmalenberger to create the Master Plan. Messervy and McCoy met with representatives from near east neighborhood groups, plant society members, the horticulture industry, corporations, government and education to gain input on how to make the park .whole. again and ensure that the Conservatory would thrive for another 100 years.

Through the planning process, several sacred elements in the park were identifiethe historic Palm House, trees, the water elements, the one-mile carriage path and the use of the park for passive recreation. The overwhelming desire of all the participants was to restore the vitality, grandeur and beauty of Franklin Park while retaining its neighborhood character.

Subsequent phases of the Master Plan will help create a range of landscape experiences in the park, including pastoral lands, groves, celebration lawns, and gardens, all linked together by the carriage path and other pathways. Small garden vignettes will be created throughout the park in addition to a Children’s Adventure Garden and a Japanese Garden.

In the future, vehicles will enter the park through a new Broad Street entrance and cars will travel up and over the park’s highest point, revealing to visitors a wonderful view of a new lake and the Palm House. A promontory at this point will include a fountain, a garden, and seating.

New facilities will also be a part of future phases. A new education building will provide space for new in-depth educational offerings for schoolchildren. A boathouse next to the lake could house paddleboats and a new restaurant. And the amphitheater will be refurbished so that it can be the site of small concerts in the park and graduation ceremonies for nearby schools.