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Recreation and CPC split over parking plan as Fayetteville Park proposal grows to $1.5M; $240,000 added for parking
Summary
Recreation staff presented a revised Fayetteville Park plan that adds angled parking and other measures, increasing the project estimate to about $1.5 million with roughly $240,000 attributable to added parking; the committee pressed for safety sign‑offs, contingency clarifications and grant timing before deciding whether to advance the article to town meeting.
The Community Preservation Committee spent the largest portion of its July 21 meeting on a revised plan for improvements at Fayetteville (Harold E. Fay Memorial) Park, where Recreation staff and the design team said a recommended "middle" parking option would add roughly 33 spaces and about $240,000 to the project total.
Travis (speaker 12), the Recreation applicant, said the parking addition combines 12 deeded spaces across the street, 17 angled spaces on Central Street, and two ADA-accessible spaces. "The middle option was the one that we landed…a total of 33 spots," he said, adding that the plan also includes a flashing crosswalk and minor earthwork to create a safe exit from angled spaces.
The added parking accounted for a large portion of a revised project total that many participants described in the meeting as approximately $1.5 million (an earlier conceptual estimate had been lower). Travis told the committee that $240,000 is what had been added for the parking plan and that roughly $632,000 of the overall scope is eligible for potential reimbursement under a federal grant the town is pursuing through the National Park Service (Land and Water Conservation Fund). "We're hoping to get an answer from that grant in the fall," he said, but emphasized the timing is outside local control.
Committee members and neighbors raised several materials and process concerns:
- Safety and walkability: Resident Patty (speaker 13) objected to angled parking on Central Street, saying drawings looked as if they removed a narrow buffer where pedestrians now walk. "If you're going to make those diagonal parking spots, is that going to be considered and included when you're making these angled parking spots?" she asked. Travis and committee members responded that Activitas (the traffic consultant), DPW and the police will need to confirm safe pedestrian access and that the design will incorporate walkways and crosswalk accommodations.
- Cost and contingency: Members pressed for confirmation that a 15% contingency is included in the present application (Travis said he would verify). Several members warned that presenting $240,000 for only five net new Central‑Street spaces could be politically difficult at Town Meeting unless the project is framed as necessary safety and access improvements.
- Permits and deeded parking: Committee members noted that some spaces are "deeded" through prior agreements (12 spaces) and recommended that final permitting and the Select Board or Planning Board sign-offs be secured before moving to Town Meeting.
Recreation staff said they intend to present the recommended parking changes to the appropriate town boards and to keep the CPC informed. "We think this parking plan makes sense regardless of whether we move forward with the project in the fall," Kristen (speaker 6) said, describing the plan as a combination of physical improvements, better signage and scheduling changes for park programs.
Next steps: the Recreation team will verify contingency calculations, confirm engineering/consultant findings in writing (especially the pedestrian buffer and angled-parking safety), attempt to confirm the deeded‑space counts, and seek grant decision timing. If those dependencies are satisfied, staff indicated they will prepare an article for Town Meeting; the committee asked for clear documentation that DPW and the police (and any applicable permitting boards) have reviewed and approved parking and safety details.
Key quotes: "The middle option was the one that we landed…a total of 33 spots," —Travis (S12). "You're going to be backing out into oncoming traffic on Central Street," —Patty (S13), on angled parking concerns.
The committee did not take a final vote on the application at the July 21 meeting; members instead asked staff to return with clarified costs, contingency, documented sign-offs from technical authorities and a plan for public presentation that makes the safety and necessity case to Town Meeting voters.
