The public will soon be able to weigh in on upgrades at Troy’s Prospect Park.
Kyle Engstrom and Phil Farinacci have been playing tennis at Troy’s Prospect Park for years. So, they’ve seen the deterioration. The cracking and peeling surfaces.
On Thursday, they noticed a big difference. The old courts have been blocked off as the city unveiled new tennis and pickleball facilities as part of a planned overhaul to the park, with more proposals still up for public discussion.
Engstrom and Farinacci took a mid-set break to speak with WAMC.
“We were just laughing at looking back over there, like that's where we used to play, total dead spots everywhere, weeds coming through the ground. This is definitely an upgrade, for sure,” Engstrom said.
“They don't drain well, and, yeah, the play, they just play a lot truer here,” Farinacci said.
The park’s roughly $1 million dollar tennis and pickleball courts were paid for in full by American Rescue Plan Act funding.
The old courts, which are still intact, will be a part of the park’s master plan. Mayor Carmella Mantello says public input sessions will happen later this year.
“Somebody will come out of the woodwork with an idea that you never thought of,” Mantello said. “So that's where those public input sessions really hit home.”
Mantello says a master plan would be resident-centric and not a “top-down approach.”
Other improvements recently made at the 80-acre site include a new playground, paving, and resurfacing of the wall ball area.
Potential improvements could include renovation to the park’s early 20th century pool. The aboveground pool, which has sat empty since its closure in 1992, would cost millions to fix, says Mantello.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, unless we have philanthropist who has, like, millions and millions of dollars, it’s really tough bringing that pool back to life as a pool, so we have to look at it differently,” Mantello said.
Mantello, a life-long city resident, says ideas like turning the former pool, which is overgrown with vegetation, into a botanical garden or amphitheater have been thrown around.
Mantello says the park is largely inaccessible to the public in its current state. The first-term Republican says she wants to solidify the park’s trail system, make the entrance more welcoming, and add new amenities such as a potential dog park.
“When families, when businesses move into a city or want to stay in the city, yes, they look at taxes, they look at public safety, they look at education, but right up there is quality of life, and our parks are a huge key to that,” Mantello said.
Commissioner of General Services for the city, Joe Mazzariello, says the parks and quality-of-life teams will continue minor upgrades as a master plan is created.
“We will pick up litter, we'll cut grass, pick up leaves, blow everything. We're starting to paint the building, the entryway,” Mazzariello said. “We're going to put a new gate up in the entryway as well. Like the mayor said, Seamus provided some pavement in the beginning of the coming in the park.”
Just days into her tenure last year, Mantello cleared a homeless encampment near the park on property owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Mantello says another encampment on the park’s south side was cleared recently. Mantello says the park is safe and visitors shouldn’t fear. Deputy Mayor Seamus Donnelly says a third-party was brought in to clean up.
“Not only are you dealing with the biohazardous materials, but just think of the elevation it actually takes legitimate equipment to get up there,” Donnelly said.
Mantello says the cost to bring in that third-party is found within the budget.
“Joe and Seamus will sit down, they find the money through any one of our lines,” Mantello said.
But for now, pickleball and tennis enthusiasts have a new reason to love Prospect Park.
