Council accepts MassWorks $3M, $300K site-readiness and multiple state grants for redevelopment and services

The Springfield City Council approved a package of state grants Monday that officials said will support site remediation, planning and infrastructure improvements in the South End and other city priorities.

Brian Connors, city staff, described a $100,000 Brownfield site assessment grant to test and plan reuse of the former MCDI site at 140 Willingham Ave. "This grant will allow us to do environmental site testing as we plan for reuse for that property," Connors said. He also presented a $300,000 FY26 site-readiness grant for planning and engineering and a $3,000,000 MassWorks infrastructure award to fund streets, sidewalks and tree plantings in the area bounded by State, Maine, Willow and Union streets near a new parking garage.

Separately, the council accepted a $269,749.73 MassDOT Tier 3 Complete Streets grant to build sidewalks on Roosevelt Avenue between Alden Street and Wilbraham Road to improve student access to nearby schools. Molly Fogarty, the library director, reported acceptance of $618,298 in state aid to public libraries administered by the MBLC, and Roy Goodman of Elder Affairs presented a $104,000 SHINE earmark to support staff and vendor services that help residents access Medicare benefits.

Lieutenant Brian Elliott briefed the council on an FY26 Shannon CSI grant award totaling $860,689 to support community-based programming (about 69% of the award) and department prevention efforts; he said the city experienced a 31% reduction in funds this cycle and noted procurement will determine subrecipient awards.

Clerk roll calls approved each grant item. Councilors asked technical questions about project scope, procurement and next steps; Connors said the site-readiness and MassWorks funding will support neighborhood planning and engineering and that the Brownfield assessment should cover typical Phase 2 sampling costs for a site of the stated size.