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Neighbors press Holyoke CPA committee to revisit Jones Point path and budget
Summary
A long-running Jones Point park upgrade drew fresh neighborhood opposition at the Holyoke City CPA committee meeting, where residents raised concerns about the walking path routing, accessibility, the project's permit requirements (including an endangered-species permit) and disputed line-item costs in an outdated budget.
The Holyoke City Community Preservation Act (CPA) committee heard extended debate and public comment Wednesday on the Jones Point park upgrade, where neighbors pressed officials to reconsider a proposed walking path and challenged the project budget.
Committee members said the project — approved by the CPA and later by city council — has an engineering study and contracts in place. Meg, a committee member, told the panel that the finalized plan and required permits are now complete, including stormwater approvals and a ‘Mesa’ permit tied to an endangered-species review for a rare speckled salamander.
"It was important to hear from neighbors," Meg said, describing two recent public meetings and technical reasons the design team included the current path layout. She said one option under consideration is reducing parts of the looped path so it does not regrade the hill beside the tennis courts or remove sledding opportunities.
Helene urged a small working group to brainstorm alternatives and noted some residents asked that the whole project be stopped — a request that, she said, had not been raised in prior park-and-rec meetings.
At the public-comment portion, Beth Brook, speaking from a neighbor's home because of Zoom issues, said repeated requests for an up-to-date budget were not answered and that the only budget she could find online was outdated and unrealistic. "$2,500 for a bench, $35,000 for 1 picnic table, almost $45,000 for trees... In a city that doesn't have enough affordable housing," Brook said, adding that recent fires and homelessness make the spending questionable.
Committee chair Jay (committee member) acknowledged the concerns and proposed a well-publicized, in-person public meeting after the holidays to present current plans, budgets and a slide deck that Meg said is already posted on the CPA committee website. Jay cautioned that many project elements are already contracted and that substantial changes would require city-council approval and could increase costs or delay the timeline.
Members emphasized accessibility requirements: Mary asked whether reducing the path would affect handicap access; Jay confirmed accessibility elements must be preserved and noted the committee had a speaker from the commission on disabilities weigh in earlier.
The committee agreed to allow limited (two-minute) public comment tonight and later scheduled a larger in-person public meeting to present costs, a project timeline and alternatives. The committee also told residents it will provide clearer notice and printed materials for that meeting.
Next steps: the CPA committee plans a formal public meeting in early January to review the finalized plan, updated budget and any proposed path modifications; any substantial change would require further committee action and, possibly, city-council reapproval.
