Pittsfield Asked to Open Gates at Kirvin Park
 The City Council handled and array of issues at Tuesday's City Council meeting. |
Councilor at Large Kathleen Amuso requested that the gates closing off the southerly portion of the park be opened from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. daily.
However, officials from both the parks department and maintenance have concerns about vehicles damaging the fields.
"I know there are issues with opening up the gate because of vandalism. We have to be careful of that," Amuso conceded, but still said she would like the gates to be opened for some period of time.
Both Amuso and Councilor at Large Barry Clairmont were contacted by a constituent who was having troubled getting to the rear portion of the property. Residents can drive into park from Williams Street but are stopped at a parking area. The southern portion of the park is farther back and is only accessible by foot.
"I think the issue is residents wanting to drive all the way to the back," said Parks and Open Space Manager James McGrath.
McGrath, however, says the gates were installed after multiple occasions when motorist would cause damage to the soccer and other playing fields. The driveway is right on the side of the fields in the back portion and there is no fencing keeping vehicle traffic off them.
"In the dead of night, they tend to gravitate to those areas and they cause a lot of damage," McGrath said.
Ultimately the petition was sent to the Parks Commission to figure out what to do. Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi suggested additional fencing while Vice President Christopher Connell suggest security cameras.
"There is a number of pros and cons with how we can handle this situation. From our standpoint, we want to encourage access to our parks," McGrath said.
Brattlebrook Park once had similar issues in the past and the city installed guardrails. Now, the city is facing an issue with the roads. Resident Alexander Bertelli has petitioned the city to renovate the road leading to the park. Both the City Council's public services committee and the Conservation Commission have given the approval for the Highway Department to fix it.
According to Ward 3 Councilor Nicholas Caccamo, work has already begun on the road. Berms that had been built until the guardrails could be installed were causing water issues, which ultimately led to poor condition of the road. The road has been smoothed and the berms broken down.
"It actually looks substantially wider," Caccamo said.
The plans are to break down the road material itself and re-grade it. Caccamo said the road could also seen new speed bumps, a calcium mixture to help the dirt stick to the road and not be blown onto neighboring properties, and possibly a new runoff ditch.
"There are a number of things going to happen and right now it is going in the right direction," he said.
The City Council also approved Tuesday having Mayor Daniel Bianchi reach an agreement with Salisbury Estates to provide some services, such as plowing and street sweeping.
The housing development residents had approached the city asking for their private roads to be accepted. However, that would also mean the public would have full access to driving and parking on the roads. Ultimately, city officials and Salisbury Estates agreed to keep the roads private and instead reach an agreement for services.
The city already provides services to a number of unaccepted streets and has gone through the process of accepting some streets. In Salisbury Estate's case, the roads were not in a condition the Department of Public Works required for accepted streets.
Tags: public parks, roads, streets,
