🔨 A Decade's Wait Ends for Mary Dennison Park
New funding for the Bruce Freeman Trail Announced | Preview of this Week’s Council Meeting | Date Set for Mayor’s Forum in D6 | Community Events | The Civic Week Ahead
Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, Framingham!
This week’s issue I am catching up on a big story from a few weeks ago. The cleanup of Mary Dennison Park is a huge deal, especially with Avery Dennison significantly chipping in to pay for the cleanup. This is another critical step in cleaning our environmental justice sites.
We cannot discuss Mary Dennison without mentioning Judy Grove, former town meeting member and District 8 Councilor, who gave so much of her time and advocacy in getting this park cleaned. This has been a long time coming, and thank you Judy for ensuring it remained on the forefront of Framingham’s collective minds.
Thank you to those who took The Ham’er poll about school buses last week. Look for this week’s poll in the Preview of this Week’s Council meeting section.
Have a comment or question? I’d love to hear from you. Email me at mkfeeney@gmail.com
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A Decade's Wait Ends for Mary Dennison Park
Four years after the first appropriation of money, the Council approved an increase of funds needed for the cleaning and renovation of Mary Dennison Park.
Back in 2019: The Council voted to spend $19.6 million for this project in December 2019. And well, we all remember what happened the months following in 2020.
The future of Mary Dennison: The new park will include a multi-purpose turf field, softball field, two basketball courts, walking paths, volleyball court, skate area, new playground, fitness equipment, and splash pad. Parking, updated lighting and utilities, and a pavilion with restrooms and for concessions are included in the plan.
The updated price tag: The project requires an additional $23.5 million, bringing the total cost to $43 million. Avery Dennison agreed to pay a portion of the costs, including 82% the first $14.5 million of the project's remediation costs, along with a percentage of legal and construction costs. The total amount comes to $15 million from Avery Dennison. Framingham will cover the remaining $27.6 million.
What caused the increase?: A reason not shocking to anyone is the cost of construction materials. Another reason are the changes MassDEP is requiring regarding “an asbestos air monitoring program and asbestos handling protocol in the event asbestos containing materials were detected during remediation, modifying the compensatory storage plan, and increasing the cap (clean fill) depth in certain areas of the site.”
What is the history of the site?: Dennison Manufacturing Company (now Avery Dennison Corporation), located in the old mills across from the railroad tracks, used the land the park now sits on as a dump from the mid-1920s to 1947. Historical records also show that Dennison allowed the Town of Framingham to dump municipal wastes at the property. The park was built in different stages beginning in 1960 when Dennison gave the land to Framingham.
Contamination was discovered in 2014 when the town started working on updating the park. Lead was initially found in the soil. Further testing showed the entire 15 acres of the park and surrounding properties were contaminated.
Since the initial discovery, MassDEP completed remediation at the playground, with soil removal and installing a barrier.
What they said: "We have been waiting for years and years for this project to be cleaned up, and I want to make sure that there are no longer any delays to the project. We need to clean the park up, and we needed to do it a long time ago." - District 9 Councilor Tracey Bryant
Next steps: A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for Tuesday, March 26 at 4pm. The new park is due to reopen in 2025.
New funding for the Bruce Freeman Trail Announced
More funds for the BFRT: Congresswoman Katherine Clark secured $1.66 million for design and construction of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.
The BFRT was one of 13 projects on Clark’s list for funds.
Last year Clark secured $500,000 for part of the construction.
What is the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail?: The BFRT follows the old New Haven Railroad Framingham & Lowell line. It is a 26 mile route that travels through Lowell, Chelmsford, Westford, Carlisle, Acton, Concord, Sudbury and Framingham. Sudbury is currently working on their phase of the project.
Preview of this Week’s Council Meeting
Tuesday is Council Day and starting this week I’ll lay out what is on the agenda and what to watch for in the meeting.
Big discussion of the meeting: Our state delegation - Senator Karen Spilka and Representatives Kate Donaghue, Danielle Gregoire, Jack Lewis, and Priscila Sousa - join the Council for a discussion on issues relating to the community.
Question: If you were a councilor, what would you ask the state delegation?
Financial matters: Two items of note: purchase of 499 Central Street and the purchase of permitting and licensing software.
499 Central Street: Owner of the property approached Framingham to sell his house and the ½ acre of land along the Sudbury River. The city is requesting approval for the use of mitigation funds (money paid to the city instead of building affordable housing at the Millwood development) to purchase the house and land for $650,000.
It is suggested the house could become affordable housing for a veteran, in partnership with the Framingham Housing Authority.
The ½ acre along the river will improve access to Simpson Park.
Software: Request for $319,361 from Free Cash for the purchase of a cloud-based, citywide permitting and licensing software system called OpenGov. This purchase also includes a module for Open Checkbook which will provide the community with transparency of government spending in a digital format.
Framingham once used Open Checkbook under the Spicer Administration. The contract was not renewed by the Sisitsky Administration.
How to watch the meeting: The meeting streams live at 7:00pm on the Council Facebook page, on Zoom, or on the Government Channel (Comcast 22, RCN 13 or Verizon 42).
Date Set for Mayor’s Forum in D6
Up next, D6: Mayor Sisitsky announced his third district meeting this week.
When and where: The forum takes place on Thursday, April 4 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Framingham State Entrepreneur Innovation Center (editor note: I have an office here, in fact).
Community Events
This Saturday: Community Gardens Design Meetings
Have ideas about community gardens?: You are invited to attend public meetings on Saturday, March 23 to learn about the community garden program and share your thoughts!
Where are the meetings?
1:00 to 2:00 p.m. - Roosevelt Park (80 Fay Road) - Meet at shade shelter
3:30 - 4:30 p.m. - Bates Road Park (40 Bates Road Ext) - Meet at baseball field
Who is behind this project? Transition Framingham and the Framingham Community Gardens Working Group, in partnership with the City of Framingham’s Department of Planning & Community Development, Department of Parks & Recreation, and Agricultural Advisory Committee, have been awarded Community Preservation Act funding from the Community Preservation Committee to develop designs for possible new community garden sites at Bates Road Park and Roosevelt Park.
These meetings gives an opportunity for you to learn more about this project, hear about the unique opportunities at each park location, and discuss ideas for possible garden features.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Join the Framingham Garden Club for an informative evening of floral tablescapes of iconic authors, artists, explorers, musicians and athletes.
The Civic Week Ahead
Monday, March 18
Tuesday, March 19
Wednesday, March 20
In Closing…
How am I doing?
I love hearing from readers, and I’m always looking for feedback. How am I doing with The Ham’er? Is there anything you’d like to see more of or less of? Which aspects of the newsletter (or podcast) do you enjoy the most?
Hit reply and say hello - I’d love to hear from you!
See you next week,
Mary Kate
Is there a plan to keep CRT (Critical Race Theory) and Gender Discussions and books out of Framingham schools, especially for grammar school children K-12? Their innocent minds don't need to be further confused. It's child abuse to allow it. I'm a retired Mental Health Clinician and see the harm Covid has taken on our children. Their confusion is part of the school violence. Your doing a great job reporting news in Framingham area.