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Springfield removes Stern Square bench over safety concerns; parks staff to seek repair estimate as preservation groups press for faster action
Summary
City parks staff removed a deteriorating historic bench from Stern Square citing safety risks. Preservation groups and neighborhood leaders asked the parks department to get a restoration estimate quickly so a Community Preservation Act (CPA) proposal can be filed before the end-of-February deadline.
Councilor Perez, Ward 1, and members of Springfield’s preservation community pressed city parks officials on Jan. 28 after the parks department removed a historic bench from Stern Square because of safety concerns.
The meeting convened by Councilor Brown, chair of the Maintenance Development Committee, focused on the bench’s removal, the bench’s storage at Forest Park, funding options for repair, and next steps to return the bench to Stern Square.
The bench was removed after a parks inspection found “sharp edges that posed a potential danger to the public” and evidence that sections were sinking into the ground, Parks superintendent Tom Edge said. “So I made the decision to remove it,” Edge said, adding that staff plan to have the bench assessed by an outside masonry specialist and that the city removed the bench to limit potential liability.
Preservation advocates at the meeting urged faster, more transparent communication and quicker action on repair. Betsy Johnson, president of the Metro Center Association, said residents were surprised by the removal and asked for earlier notification and regular updates: “It would have been nice to have been notified.”
Erica Swallow, president of the Springfield Preservation Trust, said she had heard an informal estimate in the range of $40,000 to $50,000 for repair and reinstallation. “I had heard it was in the range of 40 to 50000 from sources who were close,” Swallow said; she and other preservation representatives asked the parks department to request a formal estimate from Baker Masonry, the local company that dismantled and removed the bench.
Meeting participants described three immediate tasks: (1) get a detailed restoration and reinstallation estimate (participants requested that the parks department contact Baker Masonry to inspect the stored bench and provide prices and steps), (2) determine short-term city funds that could pay for an urgent repair if CPA funding will be too slow, and (3) compile an inventory of other historic objects in city parks that may need review or longer-term protection.
Several speakers urged using the Community Preservation Act (CPA) as a possible funding source but cautioned that CPA awards would not be available until the next grant cycle. The CPA deadline for proposals was discussed as imminent; preservation leaders said an estimate would be needed within about two weeks to allow a CPA proposal to be filed for this funding round.
Committee chair Councilor Brown summarized the meeting’s immediate result as a consensus to seek an estimate quickly and to follow up with another meeting once that estimate is available. Jim Boone of the McKnight Neighborhood Council and others offered to help assemble a CPA application and to provide required neighborhood support letters if the parks department supplies the estimate and ownership support.
No formal vote was taken. Parks staff said the bench is currently in indoor storage at Forest Park and that a formal assessment and potential request for proposals (RFP) may be required for full restoration and reinstallation.
