Framingham parks staff outline Cushing Park splash pad design, safety and budget concerns

Framingham Parks and Recreation officials on March 3 presented conceptual designs, operational options and safety considerations for a proposed splash pad at Cushing Park and asked the Community Preservation Committee to consider $500,000 in CPA funding to complement a $1 million request in the city’s FY26 capital budget.

The presentation, led by Allison Elliott, deputy director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, and introduced by Jim Snyder, the department’s director, described a design process now under way with CHA as the project designer and community outreach conducted in January. The parks staff said the project team aims to finalize design documents, then prepare construction bidding documents. Ashley Daniels Ramos, a Framingham resident who organized local interest and helped run a multilingual survey, is listed as a co-applicant for the project.

Why it matters: the committee must weigh a construction-scale request against public-health and operational trade-offs. Committee members pressed Parks and Recreation for clearer budget breakdowns, contingency language and operational commitments — including staffing and maintenance — before the committee’s upcoming public hearing and any formal funding decision.

Allison Elliott told the committee the team is studying two broad site options inside Cushing Park, described in the presentation as “location A” (near the Academy building and existing utilities) and “location B” (a flatter open area near the nursery). Elliott said the locations were…