Playground, restrooms envisioned at Feeding Hills park
AGAWAM — Warmer weather is bringing more visitors to Still Brook Park in the Feeding Hills section of the city, and before next winter they may have more to do.
The Agawam City Council is poised to vote Tuesday on a $700,000 upgrade to the 292-acre park on Pine Street. Mayor Christopher Johnson is proposing adding a playground, canoe dock and restrooms to the park less than a year after it opened.
Just don't expect anything on the scale of School Street Park, the recreation area on the other side of town that's full of play areas, sports fields, a band shell and a spray park. Jennifer Bonfiglio, the town's chief procurement officer, said officials still envision Still Brook Park as primarily a passive recreation facility for jogging, hiking, rowing and fishing.
'We have to take into consideration the parking,' Bonfiglio said. 'There's not a ton of parking up there.'
The proposed playground will cover 3,700 square feet and include a swing set and a barn-themed climbing structure with three slides attached. Plans call for a pair of restrooms near the playground.
The playground and restroom will be installed in the Central Meadow area of the park, across the road from the existing pavilion. There are 10-15 parking spaces along the road in that area, Bonfiglio said. She said Agawam isn't currently planning on adding more parking.
The project would also add four small metal canopies, each containing one picnic table, to the Central Meadow walking trail. Spread out evenly over the trail, there would also be six fitness stations, such as a balance beam and a sit-up bench, with instructional kiosks. Elsewhere in the park, plans also call for the installation of three pairs of granite targets for the beanbag-tossing game cornhole.
On the pond, where there are also 10-15 parking spaces, Johnson is proposing adding an aluminum dock and wooden boat ramp for canoers and kayakers. Swimming and motorized watercraft are prohibited on the pond. Bonfiglio said Agawam's own public works crews can install and remove the dock each year.
In the middle of the pond, plans call for two solar-powered fountains to be installed, to aerate the water and help control algae. Bonfiglio said the project cost includes a five-year contract for algae and weed control on the pond and maintenance of the fountains. After that, those items would become an annual cost of more than $7,000 per year.
Johnson is asking to use Community Preservation Act money for the new additions to Still Brook Park. CPA funds come from an existing surcharge on local property taxes and matching grants from the state. They can only be used for certain types of capital projects. The town's CPA Committee has agreed to support the proposed project.
If the council approves the project, Bonfiglio said she could put the project out to bid this spring. Based on conversations with vendors, she expects the playground and fitness equipment could arrive within 12 weeks, and the project could be completed by the fall.
Still Brook Park officially opened in October 2024. The town spent about $6 million to repair a failing dam. It also built a road from Pine Street to the pond, resurfaced some walking trails and installed a covered pavilion, benches and picnic tables. Much of the cost was funded with grants and CPA funds. The rest was borrowed, and the town expects to use revenue from a solar array on the north edge of the property to pay off the bonds.
Before it became a park, the land was the second-largest undeveloped parcel in Agawam, largely unused since Tuckahoe Turf Farm closed in the 1990s. The town has owned it since then, using it occasionally as a staging area for public works equipment and debris. During that time, neighbors often hiked informal trails through the property.
Bonfiglio said a future phase of park development may resurface and officially adopt more of those trails.
Pope Francis was 'clarion voice for the poor' says Springfield Bishop William Byrne
People in Business: April 21, 2025
Business Monday ETC: April 21, 2025
Medical Notes: April 21, 2025
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
Cold War fighter jet fired up after 18 years
A Cold War fighter jet, which spent the majority of its service at RAF Binbrook, has been fired up for the first time in 18 years. Lightning XR724, was designed to intercept Soviet bombers and first flew on 10 February 1965. The aircraft, which was retired in 1991, has been undergoing a five-year restoration project at the site near Market Rasen. Chief engineer Chris Johnson, who was in the cockpit when the 60-year-old plane was started, said: "Getting this old lady running again after so long being idle is going to feel great." Mr Johnson said his team is hoping to fix the aircraft's top engine by the end of 2026. The next public run of the engine is due to be carried out an open day on 6 September. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Fighter jet on display after 'exciting' restoration Cold War jet's future safe after hangar success The Lightning Association
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Boston Globe
Scientist at Plymouth conservation nonprofit dies in remote Alaska crash
Schulte had traveled to Alaska to conduct conservation work, the statement said. He and the helicopter pilot were flying west from Prudhoe Bay to an area where he planned to outfit shorebirds with recording devices when the helicopter crashed on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for Manomet Conservation Sciences. The region Schulte was visiting has become a flashpoint in the debate over balancing the nation's energy needs and confronting climate change. The oil company ConocoPhillips wants to establish an oil drilling venture known as the Advertisement Schulte had also planned to visit the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where he was to lead a crew tracking the migratory routes of whimbrels, another shorebird, with satellite transmitters, Manomet Conservation Sciences said. The Advertisement The crash occurred on the first day of the bird study about 20 miles west of Deadhorse in North Slope, the northernmost section of the state, Clint Johnson, chief of the safety board's regional office in Alaska, said Friday. 'It's in a very remote part of Alaska,' Johnson said. 'There's nothing there. It's treeless, barren, in the middle of no place.' Earlier in the week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin toured parts of the North Slope to advocate for President Trump's desire to open parts of the Alaskan wilderness to drilling and mining. The helicopter had taken off at about 10:40 am. The pilot had received special weather clearance, known as VFR, or visual flight rules clearance, Johnson said. North-Slope Borough Search and Rescue traveled to the crash site on Wednesday and retrieved the victims' bodies and on Friday afternoon, NTSB investigators visited the scene, which is only accessible by helicopter, he said. An NTSB meteorologist and air traffic controller are working with investigators, who plan to transport the helicopter wreckage to Deadhorse to continue their work, according to Johnson. Officials plan to place the wreckage in a sling tethered to a helicopter for the journey back to Deadhorse, which has an airport, he said. Advertisement Last Saturday, Schulte shared photographs of Schulte coordinated an American oystercatcher recovery program which was launched in 2009 at Manomet Conservation Sciences. Conservation work by the program and its partners along the East Coast helped to rebuild the American oystercatcher population by 45 percent, the organization said. 'Shiloh gave his life in the service of something greater than himself, dedicating himself to preserving the natural world for future generations,' the group's statement said. In March, Schulte discussed progress in regrowing the population of the American oystercatcher, a striking shorebird with long, orange-red bills and black-and-white plumage who live along the Atlantic and Gulf coast, according to a news release from Manomet Conservation Sciences. In 2008, he said the population had dropped to fewer than 10,000 birds across the Americas, a 10 percent decline. Conservation efforts reversed that slide and there are now more than 14,000 birds. 'This success proves that when we commit to conservation, we can restore declining species,' he said in a statement on March 13. Following the devastating BP oil spill which released millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Schulte led a crew of researchers enlisted by the government to document the spill's environmental impact on wildlife. Schulte's team was hired by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to locate resident oystercatchers in coastal Louisiana and outfit the oiled ones with radio transmitters to track their health, he told the Globe in 2010. Advertisement He earned a doctorate at North Carolina State University, where he studied American oystercatchers on the Outer Banks and helped to band and track the birds, according to his biography on the website for Manomet Conservation Sciences. As an undergraduate student, Schulte studied wildlife biology at the University of Vermont. He was a competitive distance runner and earned a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, the biography said. In April, he ran the Boston Marathon, finishing the race with a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 50 seconds. The time placed him 137th among 2,386 men between ages 45 and 49 who competed, according to results from the Boston Athletic Association. Laura Crimaldi can be reached at
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
'Garden of Love' making a comeback after city's removal
Slowly but surely the garden in front of the house on Ontario Avenue in Niagara Falls is beginning to grow again. The occupants of the house — Kenneth Johnson, Justine Burger and their three children, ages 2, 4 and 15 — are now looking forward to full bloom, the time when their flowers blossom and their raspberries, corn, green beans, zucchini, bell papers, cherry and Roma tomatoes ripen to the point where they are ready to be picked. They've added a few new touches this year. Four raised garden beds were donated by the Niagara Beautification Commission. Multi-colored lights to brighten up the space at night. A wooden 'welcome' sign, donated by a friend of Burger's grandmother. Burger said she's also working on a special touch of her own, a sign that will describe the space for what it is today — a 'Garden of Love.' It's intended as a nod to the outpouring of support Johnson and Burger's household received after city workers, acting on April 21 in response to Clean Neighborhood violations, removed all remnants of the garden they grew and tended in the front yard last year. 'We're getting there,' Burger said. 'We are.' Following media reports from multiple local news outlets, including the Niagara Gazette, hundreds of people from across the city and around the region, and even a couple from other parts of the country, reached out to offer their support. Some of those same people donated money to a GoFundMe account established to help Johnson and Burger cover the fines the city charged them for the cleanup. Thanks to their generosity, the couple managed to raise the full $2,296 to pay the bill, which they said they intend to do soon. 'The community and our neighbors have been outstanding,' Burger said. 'I'm so thankful to everybody who donated money for us and for even just the words of encouragement,' she added. 'The money isn't even that big of a deal. We're working people so we would have figured it out. But just receiving words of encouragement from people we have never met in our lives, that we cannot appreciate enough.' Mayor Robert Restaino's administration, in a nine-page press release, defended the city's actions, saying they came in response to complaints about the condition of the property and that the DPW documented multiple violations of the clean neighborhood ordinance on site. The ordinance allows the city to penalize residents and property owners for failing to address various violating conditions, which can include yard waste, overgrown grass and unregistered vehicles stored on the property. In its release, the mayor's administration said that following a review it concluded that the DPW handled the matter appropriately and within enforcement actions covered under the ordinance. The administration also insisted that, at the time of the DPW crew's visit, the couple's front yard looked more like a neglected lawn full of logs and bricks than a well-tended garden. During the cleanup, crew members removed logs, painted bricks and cinder blocks from the property, including those planted into the ground along the public right-of-way, the space between the sidewalk and the street. City officials said the items posed tripping hazards and, therefore, warranted removal. In addition, during their visit to the house, city workers removed several items from the side of the house and the backyard, including a refrigerator with a door on it that city officials said posed a potential hazard to children. Burger and Johnson are confining their new garden to the area between their front porch and the sidewalk, heeding the city's advice to keep the right-of-way free from logs, bricks and plantings. The couple said Mother Nature is proving less cooperative and sunflowers planted near the street edge are growing again. 'I honestly don't know what to do with it because everything is coming back up. There's sunflowers that are straight-growing. I can't stop that,' Johnson said. Neither Mayor Restaino nor City Council Chairman Jim Perry have contacted the couple in the weeks since their story went viral. They did receive personal visits and help in fixing up the property in front of the house from several other local political figures, including Falls Councilman Donta Myles, council candidate Noah Munoz and two candidates for Niagara County Legislature, Donte Richardson and Sean Mapp. Johnson and Burger say they're trying to get past the politics of the situation and are instead focusing on making sure their garden looks good this year. 'I'm just happy that we were able to bounce back,' Johnson said. 'That's what I'm happy about.'
