State Historical Commission Favors Wahconah Park Preservation
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Massachusetts Historical Commission wants to see the Wahconah Park grandstand preserved.
This was announced to the historic park's restoration committee on Thursday, months after it supported a razed and elevated design. Planners had been trying to get in touch with the state commission for some time and received a formal response after filing a project notification form.
The commission said it "encourages consideration of project alternatives that would preserve the historic grandstand."
Planners said they are are willing to work with Mass Historic and are considering hiring a historic preservation consultant to work as a liaison.
Park, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath pointed to the park's robust feasibility study and said it is incumbent on the group to make the commission understand the story at hand.
"I think it's not unrealistic what we're asking Mass Historic to consider," he said.
"We have a very failed building. I think we've put together an approach, a preferred alternative, which I think will work at the site and it will continue to honor the legacy of what the building is and how it functions in the community and so I think we can get there with Mass Historic."
It was recommended that Epsilon Associates, an environmental engineering firm, help guide conversations with the state Historical Commission. The plan will go in front of the city's Historical Commission on Monday.
"I haven't had direct conversations but the Historical Commission members are generally folks that are living in Pittsfield, and I think are aware of the project and have been tracking the project in the media," McGrath reported.
"This has been very visible and high profile in our community. None of the members have come out and said, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute, this is a concern,' so while we haven't had a direct conversation, we haven't heard anything from them that would give us a clue that they don't support what we're doing."
Architect Salvatore Canciello added that it is a matter of going through each of the items and explaining why they are condemned, what the replacement will be, and how the character will be recreated.
"And the work that would be required to repair it is basically replacing it anyways," he said. "And so that we're replacing it in a way to make it viable in the next 100 years. So there's a story there."
Chair Earl Persip III expressed that he thought the state Historic Commission was being "unrealistic."
Project architects S3 Design also presented a second revision to the plan that shaves off 8,500 square feet from the original 40,000-square-foot design valued at $30.2 million and reduces it to about $26.3 million. This represents a cost savings of about $3.9 million.
These revisions include a $2 million cost savings by reducing 2,200 SF from the interior program space and about 5,900 SF from the open-air program space. It also converts half of the fixed seats to bench seating and leaves a beer garden as an option.
There was a proposal to cut the second concession on the upper concourse for a cost savings of around $357,000 but representatives from the Pittsfield Suns indicated that it would be needed.
The committee agreed to move forward on this track, understanding that the plan could be further modified as they go along.
As a city councilor, Persip said he hears a lot about costs and savings. He reported that Mayor Peter Marchetti is waiting for the committee to finalize the plan before getting too involved and that the next step is to engage the administration.
"We also hear on the other end I've heard people want the park done," he said. "I think this design has kept cost in mind and also gets the park done in a way I think all of us could be proud of."
McGrath said the planners are at a critical point with some work ahead of them and that the best options will come up when they look closely at the schematic design.
Tags: Wahconah Park,
