Pittsfield Sets Special Meeting for Deming Park ImprovementsBy Brittany Polito, iBerkshires Staff
02:02PM / Sunday, September 11, 2022 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Parks Commission will hold a special meeting on Monday, Sept. 19, on the proposed parking improvements to Deming Park that have sparked concern from abutters.
It will be held at 6 p.m. in the cafeteria at Sacred Heart Church on Elm Street, which is across from the park.
In June, the commission gave the city the OK to move forward with a project to address parking concerns at Deming Park, recognizing that it has been a long-standing issue during Babe Ruth and Little League baseball season.
The city received funding for the Public Services Department this winter to hire engineers Fuss & O'Neill to survey the situation. Stakeholders within the park and representatives from the Parks Commission looked at a number of different concept ideas to increase internal parking and address other issues.
The final concept includes a traffic pattern that goes one way in at the current driveway and the addition of a new exit on a city-owned right of way onto Newell Street that is across from Lyman Street.
It also includes a relocation of the Little League batting cage next to the existing batting cage and the relocation of the small Little League practice field to the southwest corner of the park.
At the commission's monthly meeting in July, a number of abuttors requested a public hearing on the proposed changes, which the commissioners voted to hold. The request was first submitted as a petition to the City Council and referred to the Parks Commission.
Abuttors were upset because they did not receive a notification about the project. The commissioners clarified that there was no effort to exclude the neighbors and said they welcome their input.
Other concerns included the plan's relocation of a Little League practice field, a reduction of open space, and traffic effects.
For more information on the meeting or on the proposed parking improvements plans, contact James McGrath, park, open space, and natural resource program manager, at 413-499-9344 or parks@cityofpittsfield.org.
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