Trekking through the woods and paths in Franklin Park on a moist Sunday morning, about 50 people immersed themselves in the history of the landscape and discussed how the eventual relocation of the adjacent Lemuel Shattuck Hospital could alter the scene.

Fredrick Law Olmsted, the renowned 19th-century landscape architect, who designed both Central Park in New York City and the Emerald Necklace in Boston, envisioned urban parks as relaxation spaces and public resources for people from all social backgrounds, said Mark Swartz, a former National Park Service ranger who led the first half of the hour-long walk.

For members of the Franklin Park Coalition and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the removal of the Shattuck facility at the southwestern edge of the park along Morton Street will offer an opportunity to reincorporate the site into nature.

While Swartz lectured about Scarboro Pond, the golf course, and Olmsted’s philosophy in landscape designs, JoAnn Robinson, landscape historian and chair of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s Board of Overseers, briefed the gathering on the potential changes to the Shattuck Hospital on a hill overlooking the site during the second half of the walk.

Inpatient and outpatient services at the Shattuck will be relocated to a new location in the South End in 2022, with a few behavioral health programs remaining in place at the old site.

For the state-owned 13-acre hospital campus after the relocation, officials are proposing leasing out up to two acres to build 75 to 100 units of supportive housing for the chronically homeless. “The programmatic vision – which integrates services at the intersection of health care and housing – is a person-centered approach designed to promote health, reduce barriers to service and coordinate care across systems,” an Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) spokesperson said.

“There is no continuity between the park itself and the land that is being used there,” Robinson said. She believes the hospital site should be reintegrated into the park to restore its pre-Shattuck reality.

“This community is receiving tens of thousands of new units of housing and new residents, and we really need all the open space we can have to improve the community and the environment,” said Karen Mauney-Brodek, president of the Conservancy. She said that Arborway Yard, an underused, state-owned parcel, makes a better site for supportive housing due to its neighborhood setting and access to public transit.

A scene from Sunday's walking tour of Franklin Park. Yukun Zhang photo

A few people on Sunday’s walk agreed that they wanted to see more open space after the hospital relocates. “I think housing for the formerly homeless people should be integrated into the neighborhood so they can walk out of their house, go to the store, go to the T and not be isolated with barbed wires around their house,” said Elizabeth Anker, a music teacher in Jamaica Plain, in referencing the protective wires around the hospital’s perimeter.

Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, executive director of the Franklin Park Coalition, would like to see an innovative approach to transform the Shattuck campus to a space for recreation and amenities such as bathrooms and exercise equipment.

Sandy Bailey, vice-president of the coalition, envisioned the future hospital site as a welcome center with tracks, maps, and a sign saying “Welcome to Franklin Park.” The center will make the park “more park-like” and not “look like that,” she said, eyeing the Shattuck building.

Last month, the city of Boston launched its own process of a master plan for Franklin Park. The EOHHS spokesperson said the planning processes for the Shattuck campus and Franklin Park are “distinct but inter-related,” and that “the Commonwealth is in regular communication with the City of Boston to identify ways to coordinate and support concurrent processes.”

A final report with recommendations about the future use of the Shattuck campus is expected to be delivered in June and a plan is expected to be finalized in September. The next community meeting on Shattuck Campus planning is scheduled for June 25 at the Franklin Park golf course clubhouse.