Wahconah Park Committee Recommends Designer

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The reimagining of historic Wahconah Park is one step closer with a designer being put forth to the city. 

The park's restoration committee on Wednesday recommended S3 Design Inc. for the job after the firm scored highest against two competitors.

The recommendation will go to Mayor Linda Tyer and then to the Parks Commission, who will communicate the vote back to the purchasing agent so that they can ask for a scope and price proposal.

The Braintree company proposed a workshop-based process to assist the owner's project manager Skanska USA, the committee, and the city with the project. It includes a feasibility study with four phases of workshops, a schematic design, bidding and the award, and the construction administration.

Last week, a subcommittee interviewed three firms and was most impressed with S3 Design's presentation, though all were seen as good contenders.

"All of them brought substantial experience, they brought multiple team members with extensive experience and proposal plans for floodwater management as well as stadium design and alternate uses, different revenue streams, different park plans and amenities that they have done. They showed projects that were at least of similar scope and size to this," member Anthony DeMartino explained.

"Each of these two did have a plan and articulated a pretty good plan in regards to a building consensus and from the public, listening to public input and, listening to stakeholder input, and being sensitive to the city's situation not just financially but just in the scope of the project,"

"The S3 group did that significantly better."

DeMartino liked that the firm wanted to meet immediate and future needs and its plan to evaluate the importance of all design aspects.

Based on other niche projects that S3 Design has worked on, the ballpark cost is about $10 million to $15 million.

The recommendation to the mayor was ranked in priority with S3 Design first, CHA second, and BH&A third.

McGrath said a single-topic Parks Commission meeting may be called to endorse the recommendation after it comes back from the mayor so that a contract can be underway.

"We are already a couple of weeks behind schedule and time is of the essence with this," he said. "So we want to proceed swiftly and efficiently but responsibly."

Wahconah Park Design Proposal by iBerkshires.com

Pittsfield Celebrates Robert 'Bob' Presutti on Arbor Day

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:33PM / Friday, April 26, 2024

Bob Presutti, right, is presented the Hebert Award in 2017 for his volunteer efforts at Springside Park. He died in 2023 at age 88.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A tree has been planted next to the Berkshire Athenaeum in honor of local "giant" Robert Presutti.

Officials celebrated Arbor Day on Friday by installing a commemorative plaque next to the American elm sapling. This is a tree that James McGrath, the city's park program manager, said Presutti would have been particularly proud of.

"Today is a day where we yes, celebrate trees, but today is also a day where here in the city we intentionally try to acknowledge the good work of folks in our community who spend their time and their efforts and their talents to make Pittsfield a more beautiful place," he said to a crowd of about 20 people.

"Today we are honoring a longtime community volunteer named Bob Presutti. I'm sure a lot of you here know Bob and know his contributions to the city, not only when it comes to trees and parks but also to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program."

The longtime volunteer passed away last year at the age of 88. He contributed more than 10,600 hours to RSVP and had great impacts on the Parks Department over the years from sharing his knowledge and talents to ensuring that workers were safe when working on trees.

"This morning I went through my emails to see how many emails Bob Presutti sent me since the year 2001 when I started with the city. Bob Presutti sent me 14,000 emails and nearly every single one of those was about trees," McGrath said, prompting laughter and smiles from attendees.

One thread struck him as particularly important because it showed Presutti's empathy when it comes to the safety of city workers while caring for trees.

"There were multiple emails from Bob about the need to get the Parks Department maintenance guys into a program learning about chainsaw safety and learning about ladder safety. He was really into making certain that our city workers were well cared for and had all of the instruction that they needed and in fact, he even offered his own time and services after he became certified to teach our city workers," McGrath said.