An effort to improve water quality and remove two dams at a western Massachusetts park is progressing.
Szot Park in Chicopee has long been the home of playing fields, green spaces and two decommissioned tanks – and for the past year-and-a-half or so, it’s also been the site of a major change in the landscape.
Following years of study and evaluation, the city and contractors embarked on a multi-phase “Abbey Brook Restoration Project,” underway in the northwest corner of the 63-acre park.
It’s involved excavators and pumps reshaping the spot, doing away with one of the century-old dams and preparing to remove another – all while cultivating a stream path in the project’s center.
“It's very important - this is the iconic park in Chicopee for most recreation in the city,” Chicopee Development Manager and Conservation Administrator Jim Dawson told WAMC. “… to [go] from what it was before, with the stagnant pond and just the goose droppings everywhere… where you really couldn't even use this space - this is just going to be awesome when it's done.”
Dawson and other officials recently toured the area– part of a special meeting held by the city’s Conservation Commission Monday.
A century ago, the site was the home of an ice harvesting pond operated by the Bemis family, where two earthen dams were set up on their estate that once stretched some 400 acres.
The family’s ice house burned down in 1932 and a few years after the estate dissipated – the park emerged, eventually dedicated in honor of Frank J. Szot, the first American soldier from Chicopee killed in action in World War I.
For years, the pond was a staple in the community.
“My dad, who grew up in the area, has stories of [how] that used to be a very popular skating spot, even stories of Bruins players in the 70s coming out to skate there,” said Tighe & Bond Project Manager Colin Powers.
He tells WAMC the spot once hosted fireworks shows – but years of geese moving into the area and other factors led to its decline.
The aging Upper and Lower Pond dams became significant causes for concern, and high E. Coli numbers were also detected in the water, likely due to the geese, according to officials.
“It was a driver - not a major driver for this, because obviously this is driven by the removal of the dam - but geese have become a major issue at this park,” Powers explained. “To the point where they had stopped mowing certain areas to limit the amount of people going down because of the issues with the geese.”
All of this, as both the dams continued to interrupt Abbey Brook, a stream that’s part of an urbanized watershed and feeds the Chicopee River.
Looking to avoid dam failures, improve water quality and allow for local ecology to thrive, the restoration project took shape – also giving the city a chance to offer more to residents, as well, according to Michelle Santerre, GIS Coordinator with the city’s Planning Department.
“There's been a real need identified in the city's open space and recreation plan that there isn't a lot of opportunity in Chicopee for passive, recreational walking, so this gives the city a real opportunity to provide something that we know that the residents of the city are looking for,” Santerre said.
The project has three phases, with the first involving the removal of the Lower Bemis Pond Dam, restoration of lower Abbey Brook and some 200 trees being planted.
The dam has already been replaced with an open-bottom culvert, with paths for walking coming along around what’s now become more of a “waterless basin” according to a website chronicling the project.
Phase two is a bit more complicated, according to Tighe & Bond’s Alex Ziter. After the pond area, the stream heads under Front Street and through a tunnel below the Chicopee Electric Light building.
“Phase two is just slowly starting to get into design… I can't really speak to that wholeheartedly, but there is some components that include a lot of utility concerns, the proximity to Chicopee Electric, as well… we're going to have to make that, again, an open-face culvert,” he explained .”So, that's going to require a lot of permitting through different agencies. So, there’s a lot of stipulations and a lot of people involved with phase two.”
Likely years off is phase three - removal of the Upper Bemis Pond Dam and further restoration of Abbey Brook.
All in all, Ziter and Powers are optimistic phase one will wrap up this fall. According to the city, at least $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds went toward the lower dam’s removal.
