Above: After getting news from the state on promised funding, I’m updating readers on the proposed Fay Park CPA project. (images edited from presentations and promos)
Southborough Recreation’s proposed project to update the Fayville area park just got a big boost from the state.
An announcement by the Healey administration on Friday revealed that Southborough was awarded a $631,350 grant for the planned project at Fay Memorial Park on Central Street.
The award is to support the project for adding a splash pad, dog park, picnic area, and ADA accessible walking loop alongside the existing playground, basketball courts, and pavilion. To make way for new features, the old baseball diamond will be eliminated.
The image right is a draft version of the project that the Recreation Commission discussed last spring. (You can read more details about the proposed project in my May 14th post here.)
The grant will reimburse the Town for up to 50% of the project costs. I reached out to Southborough Recreation Director Travis Farley. He clarified that the budget for the Town’s remaining share is about $600K.
Southborough Rec hopes that voters at Annual Town Meeting will approve using the Town’s Community Preservation Act funds to cover the Town’s share of the project. Farley confirmed that waiting on the state grant award was the reason that the park project wasn’t one of the CPA projects at the recent Special Town Meeting.
Southborough’s award for Fay Park is one of 14 projects and a combined $10M in funding “for Parks and Open Spaces Across Massachusetts”, announced on Friday by the Healey administration. (Scroll down for more details on the state’s announcement.)
I asked Farley for an update on Rec’s next steps for the Southborough project, especially related to concerns over the limited capacity for parking around the park. He responded that they conducted a parking study over the summer:
Based on that work, we believe we have identified a viable option that would provide more than 30 parking spaces, including the deeded spaces at the Historical Society.
In early September, Farley and Recreation Commission Chair and Vice Chair (Kristin LaVault and Don Dumont) spoke to the Select Board about the parking issues. They brought the board a proposal (Option 2) for adding more spaces on Central street by transitioning from parallel parking to angled parking.
The change would require some work carving off some of the edge of the park retaining wall area. The work would be incorporated into the park project.
Select Board member Tim Fling noting that he would prefer a different version (Option 3) that added even more parking. Dumont replied that public feedback they received asked for the Town not to reduce the park space. Fling felt the value of increased parking for access would more than offset the loss of carved out space. But Farley also worried about parking right behind the gazebo, “a major birthday party area”.
Vice Chair Andrew Pfaff went even further then Fling. Rather than adding the angled parking, he called for striking the entire dog park and turning it into a parking lot. He worried about safety issues. He also wondered if improving the parking on the right of way on Central Street would be ineligible for CPA funding, versus construction of a parking lot in the park.
Pfaff felt that Rec was trying to cram too many features into one small park. It was a point that neighbor Patricia Fiore later echoed. Fiore believed they should choose either the splash pad or dog park not both. And she advocated for Pfaff’s parking approach:
you actually have a very viable solution already with an access road that would put the parking down by by the railroad tracks.
LaVault pointed out that feedback from the public has show strong and longtime desire for a dog park and a “water feature”. The Town doesn’t have a place for a pool, and this park is the one place they have identified as possible for each of the options.
In the discussion, LaVault also asked for the board to support signage clarifying that from dawn to dusk the parking is designated for the park and for the Town to apply for a state grant for a flashing sign at a crosswalk.
During the meeting, Select Board Chair Kathy Cook updated on the situation with the Town’s 12 deeded spots in the 40-42 Central Street lot owned by the Southborough Historical Society (next to the Southborough History & Arts Center in Fayville Hall).
Cook said the Town was still ironing things out with Southborough Historical Society President Michael Weishan. She noted the wording in the deed wasn’t “as clear as it should be” The use of the spots in the lot are meant to be restricted to park use “dawn to dusk” unless there is an “arts event”. But there was no definition for “arts”.
On a positive note, she said that Weishan had agreed to put all 12 spots on the Central Street side of the lot. (8 spots were deed specified for that area, but the placement of the other four is at the owner’s discretion.)
Nothing definitive was decided that night for how parking for the future project would be handled. But there was a suggestion for handling things better in the meantime.
Farley and LaVault had noted that the way people currently space their vehicles means that the parking capacity isn’t fully used. A suggestion was made that in the short term, painting stripes for the parallel parking could create more spots.
At more recent Rec Commission meetings, Farley told the Commission that DPW Superintendent Bill Cundiff asked them to send him a memo, so he can consider the request.
Now that the state grant for the park has been announced, Farley told me that Rec plans to go back to the Select Board. They’ll seek “support for modifying the parking layout along Central Street”. They will also continue to proceed through the Community Preservation Committee process for their project application.
As for the state’s funding. . .
The money is available through the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant program. In Massachusetts, the grants are administered by Mass’ Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) on behalf of the National Park Service. The state’s press release touts:
“Massachusetts is the best place to live because of the communities we build and the places that bring us together,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Our parks, playgrounds, and open spaces are where we make memories and connect. These investments will help more communities create and protect those spaces, so everyone has a place to enjoy the outdoors.”
“As a former mayor, I know how much work goes into maintaining parks, improving playgrounds, and making sure every neighborhood has places where people can gather,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “Municipalities know what their residents need, but finding the resources to make improvements can be challenging. These grants give local leaders the funding to turn community priorities into a reality.”
You can read the full press release here.
