The Essex Junction Development Review Board on April 17 approved a site plan for a new pocket park at 1 Main Street — the parcel given to the city by Gabe Handy — and asked staff and the applicant to refine the lighting plan and consider additional treatments along the park’s boundary with the adjacent Firebird Café parcel.

David Burton of Ginkgo Design presented a modular, flexible design intended to limit below‑grade disturbance on a parcel with a history as a gasoline station. The plan uses an asphalt overlay and movable elements (planters, benches, trellis features and canvas shade sails) so the park can be adapted or relocated if future streetscape or redevelopment work changes the block. City staff said core drilling found contamination levels more favorable than originally feared, which reduced remediation needs in some places.

Board members praised the concept as an improvement to a degraded corner near 5 Corners but asked for changes before construction. The board requested the applicant and staff work to (1) refine the photometric/lighting layout so nighttime illumination is intentional and minimizes hot spots and glare for nearby residents and (2) consider modest, visually cohesive improvements at the park’s rear edge to reduce the abrupt transition to the Firebird parcel and to make the space read as a civic pocket rather than an extension of a private restaurant seating area.

City staff noted the deed for the parcel contains naming stipulations: the park should be named for Gabe and Diane Handy. The staff report also recommended working with Gabe Handy on a granite memorial plaque at the park entrance; the board suggested the city coordinate plaque materials and placement with the donor and finalize details as conditions of approval.

The board approved the site plan with the proviso that the applicant refine the lighting scheme, confirm maintenance arrangements, and incorporate the memorial plaque design in consultation with Gabe Handy. The motion carried unanimously.

Next steps: Staff and the designer will finalize engineered details for the shade‑sail foundations and lighting, develop a maintenance plan (city public works will participate), and incorporate plaque specifications. The project team said grant funding for an underground tree cell system was not awarded; a street tree remains planned for a later phase should funding become available.