President-elect Barack Obama’s FDR-esqe “economic stimulus” package could provide the bucks to revive a waterfront park for Fair Haven moms and kids like Celisa Cole and 1 year-old Dwayne.
The city has made “shovel ready” the renovation of Dover Beach, by the rebuilt Quinnipiac Terrace public-housing complex by the banks of the Quinnipiac River.
That’s the term for projects that Connecticut cities and towns hope to get on a list Gov. M. Jodi Rell is compiling. She’s compiling the list in order to have public-works projects set to go immediately upon passage of Obama’s stimulus plan, which is expected to pump billions into local government coffers in order to try to jump-start the economy amid a recession.
New Haven is hoping renovation of the serenely sited strip of green along the upper Quinnipiac makes Rell’s list and, ultimately, the federal cut.
Parks department designer David Moser presented a first draft of renovations of the park at a meeting of local activists Thursday night. They joined Aldermen Gerald Antunes and Joey Rodriguez and parks officials at the community room at Q Terrace, which lies across the road from Dover Beach.
The project is considered “shovel ready” because renovation of the park’s aged swings, non-functioning barbecue pits, forlornly broken benches, and eroding seawall would constitute the last phase of the Q Terrace project, otherwise finished about two years ago.
“Actually,” Moser (pictured) said in his preview, “there are two aspects to the renovation. The sea wall is a separate matter. We have $600,000 in hand, set aside to repair the sea wall. And that work can be accomplished this summer.”
Holding the sea wall repair up was a divergence in approach between city planners and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The city wanted to rebuild the entire sea wall. DEP wanted the invasive species along certain stretches of the degrading sea wall to be allowed to flourish.
That impasse, Moser reported, has now been resolved. DEP apparently is going to allow a repointing and rebuilding where necessary of the sea wall, along with the maintenance of some new tidal pool areas.
Click here for a previous story on that aspect.
The work will be done before the renovation of the park’s fixtures, paths, and kid amenities, Moser said, “because we don’t want to repair the park and then have the tide rise and ruin things.”
As to the renovation of the park itself, Moser said the cost would run between $650,000 and $800,000. That would pay for a new splash pad, renovated children’s areas, one for 2 – 5 year olds and one for 5 – 12 year-olds, both protected by four-foot high black steel ornamental safety fences.
A five-foot-wide riverine path would run from the copse of willows at the north end, along the water, and through the trees and ending up at Del Rio Drive.
Q Terrace resident Celisa Cole and her son Dawayne (pictured at the top of this story) approved most of the fenced in play area for the little ones. “I really like the idea of his being able to play and there’ll be benches and I can watch him there safely,” Cole said.
Other features Moser proposed included rebuilt swings, six new grills with tables, and, at the suggestion of Pat Bissell, one of the founders of the Friends of Dover Park, a more contemplative area by the waterside for the older folks.
Also added to the evolving plan, as a consequence of the meeting, were suggestions for signage: a graphic one for safety (Danger, Tidal Currents, No Swimming) and another explaining the area’s oystering history.
The restoration of the sea wall should begin as early as this summer, Moser said. The money’s in hand, he said.
Should Dover Beach not be lucky enough to become the site of a kind of an Obama-style Civilian Conservation Corps, Moser had a Plan B. “I can report that Parks is committed to asking for about $200,000 a year in the capital budget, so that we could accomplish the renovations, one feature at a time, over for years.”
Which feature did area residents want to begin with? Overwhelmingly the response was the splash pad. That was a good answer, as the cost of pad is about $190,000, Moser said.
“I think this is the most beautifully sited park in the city,” Pat Bisell (at the right in picture) said.
The group murmurred amen. Cathy Carbonaro-Schroeter, Livable City Initiative’s acting deputy director of parks improvements (pictured with Bisell), said a request for a first $200,000 installment on the renovation may already have been made and be included in the upcoming capital budget.
Another example on what can be accomplished when residents, elected-officials, and city staff collaborate for the betterment of their neighborhoods.
This is going to be a beautiful park!!
Joe Rodriguez
Alderman, Ward 15