Adams to Build Park at Former Hoosac Valley Coal & Grain Site
ADAMS, Mass. — The Conservation Commission has given the go-ahead to plans for a park located at 1 Cook St., the former site of Hoosac Valley Coal & Grain.
The commission voted to approve Tighe & Bond's notice of intent for the park at its Thursday meeting. The proposed park will include an off-leash dog area, event and picnic space, improved public parking and an ADA-accessible walkway. The park is being funded through the town's Community Development Block Grant funding.
"Ultimately, the end goal of the project is to, essentially, achieve a level of remediation and restore the site as a park for the community, adjacent to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail," said Melissa Coady, a project manager for Tighe & Bond.
Before converting the site into a park, some remediation work will be necessary. The site has subsurface soil contamination and an underground storage tank that require remediation.
"So basically, they are going to remediate and excavate impacted soils, backfill to grade with clean soil, they're going to excavate and remove the underground storage tank and properly dispose of that off-site," Coady said.
In addition to the necessary remediation, vegetation within the park, which Coady said has become overgrown, will be managed. Coady said the project should also maintain the historical character of the site.
"Part of the park improvements include a landscaping plan that introduces up pollinator habitat along the floodwall as well as native trees and shrubs," she said. "So overall, there is a significant improvement in the functions, values and aesthetics of the site."
The commission placed two conditions on the approval of the notice of intent. The first requires the plan to implement a drainage solution, with the second necessitating the banking of excess restoration funds for future use.
Commissioner Jeffrey Randall said having a drainage solution for the parking lot will be necessary, as runoff water would fill the parking lot otherwise.
"Basically, that water has nowhere to go," he said. "Once you get off that road, it just sits down there like a big giant puddle."
Commissioner Stephen Melito agreed, saying residents would almost certainly complain if the project fails to address the issue.
"If you build this and there's a puddle, we're going to hear, 'what a stupid decision the town did on this park.' and 'Look at the mess in the parking lot, they can't do anything right,'" he said. "And you've spent so much time and effort working on this. And you just don't want to deal with that kind of stuff, trust me."
Rebecca Ferguson, program manager for the Community Development office, said the town will find a solution to prevent the parking lot from becoming filled with water. She said a specific solution can be determined once the project is further along.
"We have no interest in building a park on this spot and having the parking area wet all the time," she said. "So we don't have specific plans as to what that solution would be. But I think we're fully committed to figuring out what that solution is. Whether it's putting in a dry well, which would probably be less impactful and costly if that could be a solution that worked, or going back with the engineers and looking at any of those sorts of drainage options."
Tags: Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, historic structure, public parks,
