PARK UPDATE - MARCH/APRIL 2008

BID AWARDED FOR PARKS

The Chester Square Area Neighborhood Association received word this week that the bid for complete renovation of the twin parks in the square has been awarded. The successful bid, one of ten received by the Boston Parks Department, will allow the landscaping plan for the parks to be implemented in permanent granite.

The design is described as a simple plan that echoes the Victorian history of the area with two three-tier Victorian cast-iron fountains, central plazas with circular seating, meandering paths through the linear parks and a slight raising of the level of the ground on the sides of the parks facing the heavy traffic on Massachusetts Avenue. This rise in level will provide some buffer from cars and trucks for those sitting on benches or seating walls in the parks. A number of flowering trees are included in the design and large planters will provide additional shelter from the sight of traffic at the plazas.

Residents of the area, who have been working on the reconstruction of the parks for six years, were delighted with the news. Neighbors of the parks had lobbied city councilors, applied for grants, inspected dozens of other parks in the city for ideas, and worked closely with the Parks Department on the project. In the course of their effort to beautify the two parks, residents and the Association had received a grant from the Browne Fund for landscape design, a community benefit package from the BRA to install Victorian lights in the parks, a second Browne Fund grant to restore fountains to the parks and a capital budget allocation from the Parks Department. The awarding of the bid is the last step in making the renovation of the parks a reality.

It is expected that ground will be broken for the construction of the parks in early spring and it is hoped that the project will be completed by fall.

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PARK UPDATE AUGUST 2007

Members of the Parks Committee of CSANA held a short strategy meeting on August 1 to prepare for the August 2 meeting with Parks and Recreation on fiscal shortfalls in the parks' renovation project. The estimates completed by the engineering company hired by the city indicate that the whole project would cost $750,000, while the City Council only allocated $500,000.

After lengthy discussions, it was decided that all underground construction work, such as water and electric lines, foundations for fountains and walls etc. should receive priority while plantings could be delayed if funds run out. The theory is that it would make no sense to disrupt newly planted landscaping to install something like pipes for the fountains or any other below ground utility at a later date.

In addition, there is the question of timing. If the parks' renovation is tied to the reconstruction of Mass. Ave. it is possible that there would be some economies of scale. The question is whether the Mass. Ave. project retains its slot on the T.I.P. list and if so whether construction would begin in '08 or '09. The final vote on the construction list will take place on August 16.

Expensive or custom made benches were rejected in an effort to hold down costs. There is also some question about using some of these funds to repair the fences around the parks since they were just sandblasted and painted by the city.

CSANA MEETING WITH PARKS AND RECREATION
8/2/07

The meeting was held at 1010 Mass. Ave., the office of Boston Parks and Recreation. Attending were: Angela Murray, project manager of the parks' renovation for Parks and Rec, John Ryther of Icon Engineering, who prepared the engineering design and estimates, CSANA President Ben Garvin, and Sheila Cheimets and Jill Young of the Parks Committee.

The cost breakdowns discussed included the following:

1) Costs that cannot be avoided such as permits and bonds, demolition and site preparation and earthwork.

2) Costs that could be deferred, such as brick paths. The less costly alternative would be to lay out concrete paths which would be set slightly below ground level and be used as the foundation for brick paving at a later date. Other costs that could be put off include ornamental gates for the parks and granite posts on each side of each entrance.

3) Costs that could be rejected altogether such as expensive, decorative trash receptacles, bike racks, and pyramid caps on the present fencing.

Among the major issues is whether to build the retaining walls and bases and basins for the fountains out of granite (the most costly alternative) cement with a granite veneer (less costly) or cement alone. Because some elements of the design are curved in shape, cement alone is not much less in cost and of course would have a much shorter life span.

In the discussion, Ms Murray noted that there were some amenities (like bike racks) that she might be able to place in the parks at no cost and that there might well be grants made by such entities as the Browne Fund that would help defray some of the proposed costs. In addition, she will put the project out to bid in Winter when bids generally come in lower and would discuss with the DPW the possibility of extending stubs from their work on Mass. Ave. to the parks.

It was decided that CSANA will apply to the Browne Fund for additional grant funding for the parks; Parks and Rec will continue their discussions with the DPW and Icon Engineering will provide information on other grant programs that offer funding for similar projects. A revised cost estimate that omits rejected items will also be prepared.
The group will meet again when there is further information about funding efforts.

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CITY COUNCIL APPROVES FUNDING FOR CHESTER SQUARE - JULY 2007

After a favorable budget hearing before the City Council Budget Committee, the full Council voted unanimously to approve $500,000 in funding for Chester Square parks. The money was contained in the Parks and Recreation capital budget.

The Chester Square Area Neighborhood Association representative had testified at the hearing on the budget on Friday, June 15th; the vote was taken some weeks later as part of the overall city budget.

The amount contained in the budget for the renovation of the parks in Chester Square is considerably less than the $600,000 in costs that had been estimated for completion of the whole project. Parks Commissioner Toni Pollack was questioned on the funding disparity by City Councilor Michael Flaherty.

The Commissioner said that she was fully supportive of the project and that there would be funds to complete it coming from two sources. One, she said, was reversionary monies left over from other park projects in the South End; the other was a negotiation currently underway to have the city's Department of Public works install the wiring for the fountains and the water lines both for fountains and for hose bibs. These pieces, she said, would allow the two parks to be renovated completely.

Stan Ivan, Director of Construction for Parks and Rec. confirmed for the Council members that he was in negotiations with the DPW when called on by the Commissioner.

The CSANA Parks Committee is now awaiting a meeting with the engineering company hired by the city to turn the conceptual park plan into engineering documents that can be used to go out for bids on the work. That meeting will review the details of the plan such as design of the fountains and benches and location of such amenities as flowering trees and flower beds.

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CITY COUNCIL BUDGET HEARING ON
CHESTER SQUARE PARKS' FUNDS
Friday, June 15, 2007

Sheila Cheimets attended the hearing.

Apparently the Parks and Recreation Department intends to put together the funding for renovating the two parks in Chester Square from a number of sources, only one of which is their capital budget.

This is the information that emerged from the budget hearing held last Friday by the Budget Committee of the City Council, at which both Commissioner Toni Pollak and Director of Engineering and Construction Stan Ivan testified.

Although members of the CSANA Parks Committee had thought that all of the $600,000 estimated for the parks' renovation would be included in the Park and Rec capital budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Councilor Michael Flaherty discovered during the hearing that only $500,000 had been included for Chester Square. He raised the issue during testimony by the Commissioner and was told that the remaining costs would be covered by getting the Boston Department of Public Works to pay for the installation of wiring for the fountains and a piped-in water supply for the fountains and hose bibs.

In addition, Director Ivan said that there were funds left over from other South End park projects that "have been committed" by the Commissioner to the CSANA project. What Parks and Rec is still awaiting is agreement from DPW that they will in fact undertake to pay the two costs.

Councilor Flaherty asked that the agreement between the DPW and Parks and Rec on Chester Square costs be made final before the council votes on the overall budget which it will do in two weeks, so that he can be assured that there is sufficient funding for the project in the next fiscal year.

The good news is that there were no adverse questions raised about the parks project; the only questions had to do with making sure there is sufficient funding to accomplish it in one year's budget.
The bad news is as follows:
- we don't know if DPW will agree to install the wiring for the fountains and the water pipes
- will we have an answer about this before the vote in two weeks?
- if they do agree, does that mean construction on our parks won't begin until the renovation of Mass. Ave. is begun? (Scheduled on the TIP list for 2008, last we heard)

I checked with director Ivan after the hearing and he tells me that although the park is fully wired for lights, they can't take power for the fountains off this wiring. He didn't say why. The fountains must be circulating so both water and electricity are needed for each fountain. I will check with Councilor Flaherty's office as well as with the Commissioner to find out whether or not they have received agreement from the DPW.