CDM Smith
The latest proposal for renovating the Grove Street entrance of Filippello Park.
Tuesday’s Town Council meeting will include a presentation about proposed improvements to the Grove Street entrance of Filippello Park, including the addition of a dog park.
The project has been discussed for four years, and has gone through a number of iterations. The current proposal would cost nearly $1 million, including $325,000 for the dog park and $215,000 for repaving, according to a slideshow to be presented by architects from CDM Smith.
The renovations would include:
- 27,000 square foot dog park
- 16,000 square feet of informal, passive open space
- a basketball court
- a futsal court
- a picnic area with tables and benches
- 2 gazebos
- four square, hopscotch and chess & checkers tables
- handicap accessible parking in the existing parking area
- potentially adding parallel parking on the access road
See the entire presentation by clicking here.
The Town Council meeting will be begin at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 in the Council Chambers in Town Hall, 149 Main St., Watertown. See the entire meeting agenda by clicking here.
How many on site parking spaces ?
Good question. I am not sure if they are adding any new spots. I think they are preserving the ones they have now.
Just a clarification, there are no plans to put parallel parking on Grove Street. The parallel parking will hopefully be located on the new access road.
Thanks for the clarification, Peter.
It appears that we do not have enough parking to accommodate the expansion.
Where might folks park and will the parking be available after hours?
How much money was raised through donations? I expect it was $0. I donated to the Victory Field as did many of my friends. We were later told that the $300k we raised wasn’t enough. Why do we have to raise/donate money to renovate athletic fields for our kids to use, but dogs get a free park? Seems like our Town Council has things backwards.
Gary, what we heard last night at the Council meeting is that the dog park component is eligible for a grant of $250,000 plus $25,000 possible additional – and that is just one source. Throughout the last 5 years (at least), the members of the Watertown Dog Park Task Force have repeatedly cited grants for dog parks that would help with costs, so I think the actual costs to the town for the dog park section of this project will be quite low.
If I recall correctly, relative to the costs of Victory Field phase 1, $300,000 in private fundraising was low compared to what was expected ($1.5 million) when the project was committed to. But the town covered that shortfall in fundraising anyway, borrowing a total of $3 million and Victory Field was renovated. I believe that Victory Field phase 2 is wisely (given the experience with phase1) not relying on any fundraising to cover the costs – In both cases, the kids are still getting very nice parks anyway – so I think the town does in fact have its priorities in good order.