WESTFIELD – The National Park Service has notified the city that it will accept a proposal to duplicate playground facilities which will allow the city to use part of the Cross Street playground for construction of a new $26 million elementary school at the intersection of Ashley and Cross streets.
“We have approved your request for a partial conversion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) section 6(f) protected outdoor recreation lands at the Cross Street Playground in Westfield, Massachusetts,” National Park Service Regional Director of the Northeast Region Dennis R. Reidenbach said in a Nov. 18 communication to Robert O’Connor, LWCF Alternate State Liaison Officer, Division of Conservation Services, Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs.
“This park was established as a result of LWCF Project # 25-00269 Westfield Multi Park Project – Cross Street Playground,” Reidenbach said. “The City of Westfield has converted a 1.35 acre portion of the 6(f) protected Cross Street Playground. The 46.3 acre replacement site is known as the Weilgus Property and is located approximately V-t of a mile from the converted parkland. The replacement site is of greater fair market value than the converted parkland and is of equal recreational usefulness and location.”
“Requirements of the 6(f) conversion process under the LWCF Act have been met. The approved amendment and a copy of this letter have been sent to Melissa Cryan,” Reidenbach said. “Please notify us when settlement on the replacement property has taken place.”
The federal agency’s approval will also allow the state to release funds for other park-related projects, specifically a $2 million grant to fund the next phase of the Columbia Greenway bicycle trail.
The City Council voted last night to accept the grant from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, although several councilors questioned the status of the grant.
“If the grant is accepted, will the state be forthcoming in releasing that money?” Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell asked. “I don’t think that money will be coming anytime soon, but I will vote to accept it.”
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said that he spoke with the state grant agent Wednesday.
“The grant is in the mail,” he told O’Connell.
The $2 million grant will go to the Engineering Department for the rail trail construction project that will extend the trail north over Little River to East Silver St. That scope of work includes rehabilitation of the “Tin Bridge” over Little River and the removal and replacement of a second bridge over South Meadow Road.
Cressotti said receipt of the grant will allow the construction work to start in the spring, with completion set for November of 2014 for the south portion, Phase 1, of the trail project.
The Board of Public Works voted unanimously last May to conditionally award Part 2 of the South Phase of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail construction project to ET&L Corporation of Stow.
ET&L submitted the low bid of $2,297,538 to construct the next three quarters of a mile of the trail, work that includes extensive bridge work.
The Columbia Greenway Rail Trail became a reality when the first 5,000 feet of the linear park were completed during Part 1 of the South Phase, extending the trail, which has been completed in Southwick, from the city line to just south of Tin Bridge.
City officials initially believed that the project would have to be advertised for new bids, but Cressotti said the Law Department determined that the original contract approved by the BPW is still valid.
The Columbia Greenway project was broken into phases because of the cost of replacing the seven bridges the former railroad crossed in the downtown area. The other two phases are the middle phase, extending the trail from East Silver Street to Orange Street and the north phase, which will extend the rail trail across the Westfield River, terminating at Women’s Temperance Park.
