MONSON[1] - Work will begin on Friday to install three pieces of fitness equipment geared to senior citizens around Veterans Field off Main Street.
The new "senior fitness walk" project is part of the first phase of upgrades to the field, which was damaged in the 2011 tornado.
The town received $500,000 in grant money announced by the governor last year[2] to repair tornado-ravaged public properties, including Veterans Field, which is receiving about $80,000 of the grant.
Town Planner Daniel Laroche recently gave a presentation to selectmen about the improvements slated for the field.
Berkshire Design Group designed the field improvements, all of which were approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission, he said.
The senior fitness walk is geared to seniors who live in nearby senior housing, or who frequent the Senior Center, which is across from the field, but anyone can use the equipment, according to Laroche.
He said parents watching their children play soccer on the field can try out the equipment.
Laroche said the equipment will be placed in the corners around the field and includes an arm press, recumbent bicycle and a step machine. He said all the pieces are made of galvanized steel for all kinds of weather.
The idea is to have attractions for people of all ages at the park, he said.
A new skate park also will be built, thanks to an insurance settlement of $170,000. Laroche said the park will feature concrete ramps and "will last a long, long time."
"It will be a nice facility when it's done," Laroche said.
The contract for the skate park construction will be awarded this fall, with the opening planned for spring. The grant also funded the tennis court repairs; a reopening celebration was held in June.
One of the baseball fields also will be enlarged at Veterans Field to make it regulation size, Laroche said.
The basketball court will temporarily be used for parking during the construction of the Town Hall-Police Station, expected to be completed in fall 2014. At that time, the court will be repaved for public use.
The old Town Hall-Police Station on Main Street was condemned due to tornado damage and later razed. Veterans Field is behind the old Town Hall.
Police are now operating out of temporary trailers, partially in their old parking lot and where the old skate park once stood. The new building is being constructed in the same spot as the old one. Town offices relocated to the old Hillside School on Thompson Street.
Another plan is to create a spray park, along the State Street end, to be funded by community preservation act funds.
Through the act, residents receive a surcharge on their property tax bills; the money is then used for recreation, historic, housing and open space projects pending Town Meeting approval. The spray park would be part of the second phase of field improvements.
"I think a spray park would be pretty popular," Town Administrator Gretchen E. Neggers has said.
No comments :
Post a Comment