WESTFIELD – Mayor Daniel M. Knapik is seeking a City Council appropriation of $3,450,000 from the city’s sewer inflow and infiltration account to Water Resource Department’s construction account to be used to install new sewers in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.
The $3.45 million appropriation will be submitted to the City Council tomorrow night.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said the $3.45 million will be used as a component of the Gaslight District infrastructure improvements. That project will also include a $2 million investment to replace water mains in the target neighborhood.
The $2 million water main funding was approved as a component of the Elm Street water line bond when the Elm Street water main was replaced last year.
The Gaslight District project will encompass the neighborhood between Elm Street on the east, and Washington Street on the west, Franklin Street on the north and Court Street on the south.
Cressotti said the Gaslight Project would improve the infrastructure and streets, while enhancing pedestrian movement in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods abutting Elm Street, and was initiated to support downtown redevelopment.
“This whole neighborhood is in need of upgraded utilities. The existing facilities don’t support economic development or serve the needs of the residents,” Cressotti said.
Underground utilities, water sewer gas and storm drains would be replaced and overhead utilities will be buried to support further commercial and residential development in the neighborhood.
A new street will be constructed through the Arnold Street municipal parking lot at an offset with Summer Street and the cut-through between Church and School streets. Sidewalks will be installed with pump-outs to increase pedestrian safety.
A key focus of the Gaslight Project will be to improve and enhance pedestrian movement between the municipal parking facilities and the city’s downtown commercial and entertainment district. The off-street parking facilities in both the Arnold Street and Franklin Street municipal parking lots will be reconfigured. Those reconfigurations will also support the Elm Street commercial and transportation projects and the eventual construction of a multistory parking garage.
The Gaslight District project also includes construction of small, urban pocket parks, green oases in a jungle of concrete and asphalt. One proposed park will be constructed in an existing parking area off Church Street, behind the former Bistro Restaurant, while another is planned in the Arnold Street parking lot along the new access road. The parks will have artifacts of historic significance, now in storage at various city departments.
The Gaslight Project also includes the widening of Arnold Street from Elm Street down to the new Arnold Street parking lot access driveway.
