Funding is now in place to build the city of Springfield’s first bike and skate park.
With a $1 million grant from the National Park Service matched by $1 million in city funds, construction is expected to start next year on an accessible city park for non-motorized wheeled recreation fulfilling a years-long goal of bicycle and youth recreation advocates.
The location is Gurdon Bill Park – a roughly 20-acre patch of city-owned green open space in the lower Liberty Heights neighborhood.
Mayor Domenic Sarno Friday announced the final funding was in place to allow the project to move forward.
“It is much more than just a skate park and a bike park,” he said, explaining that there will also be a splashpad and a children’s playground. Trees will be planted as part of the city’s climate resiliency plan.
Earlier plans to build a bike and skate park on Carew Street on property owned by the Springfield Boys & Girls Club fell through a few years ago.
After a search for a new site, the Lower Liberty Heights Neighborhood Council, project advocates, and the city’s Parks Commission all endorsed building it at Gurdon Bill Park, said parks director Pat Sullivan.
“We thought it made sense to put it here,” Sullivan said. “It is a beautiful spot. You can see the city skyline. Once you got into the heart of this park it is a nice size. So it fit all the elements to do something positive for the neighborhood.”
A PVTA bus route runs past the park, so it will be accessible to people from all over the city, said Sullivan.
“We will go out for designer services starting in the next couple of weeks and then we would hopefully begin construction late spring of next year,” he said.
For Yolanda Cancel of the organization WalkBike Springfield, Friday’s announcement culminated five years of advocacy.
“This is an amazing day on a sunny day to say we finally have got a nice permanent skateboard park,” Cancel said. “I’ve heard stories over and over and over again about what this kind of park would (do) to help families here in the city of Springfield.”
Also praising the project was Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal of Springfield, who said it highlights the role public parks play in urban life.
“We should be doing everything we can to make the parks system welcoming to everybody,” he said.
Of the roughly $100 million spent in Springfield in the last dozen or so years on park improvement projects about half the funds have come from the federal government, said Neal.
