Springfield board weighs park project

A group of residents in the Union and Park streets area have petitioned the Springfield Select Board to create a small park at the site of a recently demolished town-owned house.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20141210/NEWS02/712109961

ublished December 10, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Springfield board weighs park project By SUSAN SMALLHEER Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD — A group of residents in the Union and Park streets area have petitioned the Springfield Select Board to create a small park at the site of a recently demolished town-owned house. The “pocket park” proposal met with a mixed response from the board, but the board voted ultimately to have the Springfield Planning Commission review the concept of a park in that neighborhood by the board’s meeting in January. At the same time, the board agreed to hold off accepting bids for the lot at 21 Cottage Ave. The town wants at least $30,000 for the lot, which is served by water and sewer. The town had become the reluctant owner of the dilapidated house, and earlier this year had it torn down, rather than try and fix it up and sell it. The town received the house and lot via a tax sale. Lori Claffee of the Union-Park Street Neighborhood Alliance said she and others had gone door-to-door collecting signatures, and she gave the Select Board a list of 40 people who supported the park idea. A few kids also signed the petition, she told the board. “They’re in red crayon.” But Claffee and others from the residential neighborhood ran into tough questions from the Select Board and the Budget Committee, with some people questioning why people couldn’t use the “new and expensive” playground at Union Street School. Claffee said the lot at 21 Cottage Ave. would result in a “tiny little park” and she noted that the west side of town did not have a park to call their own, compared to other neighborhoods. The board finally voted to accept the petition but to do some research on the project. Claffee and another resident, Dick Andrews, said that both houses on either side of the now-vacant lot were vacant. While there was some opposition in the neighborhood, Claffee said, they were not residents of the Cottage Avenue block. Claffee said the park would give the kids in the neighborhood a place to “shoot a few hoops and throw a ball around.” Voting against the proposal was Selectman David Yesman, who lives on Union Street. He called it a “waste of time” and a loss of potential tax revenue. Selectman George McNaughton said that the town plan was largely silent on the issue of siting a new town park, and he said he wanted the planning commission to review the concept. “I urge you to give it serious consideration,” Andrews said. He said making the neighborhood attractive to families with young children would benefit the town greatly. One student, Lyric Emerson, said kids needed something to do and someplace to go. “It would be really beneficial if there was a park; there isn’t a lot to do,” she said. She told the board that a lot of her friends “use,” because they are bored. A park would help counter that boredom, she said. “When they’re bored, they do stupid things,” she said.