PLANNING BOARD HEARS PRELIMINARY DESIGN FOR KENDRICK PARK PLAYGROUND

PLANNING BOARD MEETING (4/15/20)

The Planning Board met for the first time in 6 weeks on Wednesday (4/15).   All board members were present. The agenda was brief.

The main focus was a presentation by Town Planner Nate Malloy on the proposed design for the playground at Kendrick Park. The town received a $400,000 PARC grant for the project last fall and voted to devote $260,000 of Community Preservation funds as well.  A public listening session was held on January 9, 2020. 

The final design will be drafted by June 1.  The town acquired the park in 2006, and a playground was originally planned in 2011 but never built.  With the grant from the State, the town Planning Department, Leisure Services and Supplemental Education and Department of Public Works have developed a plan for the site.  The history of the project and proposed design can be viewed here. 

The playground is planned for the west side of the park, about half way between Hallock Street and Triangle Street, with a wide paved walkway leading across the park to the bus stop and cross walk near the previous site of Bertucci’s.  The DPW plans to plow the walkway in winter.  

The Planning Board was favorably disposed to the plans and especially pleased with the naturalized elements, accessibility, and plan to maintain most of the trees in the park.  Janet McGowan questioned the cost of the rubberized surface and wondered if wood chips would be better. She also asked if a fence would be needed to keep small children from running out in the street and wondered why no swings were incorporated.  Malloy and Jack Jemsek noted the difficulty of maintaining wood chips and that they are difficult to negotiate for those with trouble ambulating or in a wheel chair. Malloy stated that swings need a lot of space. Maria Chao thought there should be more bike racks.  There were questions about the placement of the amphitheater, and concerns about lack of lighting and the possible use of the space by UMASS students at night. Malloy said that, like all Amherst parks, it would be open from dawn to dusk. Lights are planned for the park, but not the playground. 

The design includes a seating area, a hilltop slide, a sandy area with a digger and a pollinator garden. No public restrooms are currently planned for the project, but that is a topic for later discussion.  A rendering of the design can be found here.

In public comment, Barbara Pearson, who lives nearby, stated that she often crosses the park to get to the bus stop on East Pleasant street and was pleased that the walkway would be plowed in winter.  She also felt that angle parking on North Pleasant Street would be safer for families with young children.

The Planning Board will receive a Site Plan Review application for the playground and hold a public hearing on it in May, before the plans are submitted to the State. The project will be discussed at the Design Review Board Meeting on April 22.   The public may give input at either of those meetings or mail comments to Malloy at malloyn@amherstma.gov .

The only other matter on the agenda was a public hearing on a request by Glenn Warren to remove five sugar maple trees from the roadside of his property on Leverett Road (parcel 21, Map 3A) to make way for a driveway  to be cut when the land is developed. Tree Warden Alan Snow stated that all of the trees were less than six inches in diameter and that one was already dead. He did not think any were of sufficient value to be retained.  Because they are such young trees, the replacement fund tax does not apply. The Planning Board voted unanimously to accept the proposal.

The meeting adjourned at 7:45 PM