City of Somerville header
File #: 22-0477    Version: 1
Type: Mayor's Request Status: Approved
File created: 8/19/2022 In control: City Council
On agenda: 8/25/2022 Final action: 9/16/2022
Enactment date: 9/8/2022 Enactment #: 214250
Title: Requesting approval to accept and expend a National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant of $750,000, with no new match required, from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA), Division of Conservation Services (DCS) to the Public Space and Urban Forestry Division for the renovation of Conway Park.
Indexes: Finance-Assessing, Finance-Auditing, Finance-Budget, Finance-Grants Development, Finance-Procurement & Contracting Services, Finance-Treasury, SPCD-Public Space and Urban Forestry
Code sections: Grant/Gift -
Attachments: 1. Conway_LWCF Grant Award Letter, 2. Conway_LWCF_Council request to authorize application, 3. Conway_Deed Restriction, 4. Docket #210645_Authorization to apply for LWCF Funding_Conway, 5. DRAFT (II) CC request to accept a $750000 LWCF Grant for Conway Park

Agenda Text

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Requesting approval to accept and expend a National Park Service Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant of $750,000, with no new match required, from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA), Division of Conservation Services (DCS) to the Public Space and Urban Forestry Division for the renovation of Conway Park.

 

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Official Text

To the Honorable City Council:

 

The Mayor respectfully requests that this Council accept a grant of $750,000  from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA), Division of Conservation Services (DCS) to the Public Space and Urban Forestry Division, under the provisions of MGL Chapter 44, Section 53A. This grant does not require the commitment of new matching funds.

 

The purpose of this grant is to assist in the renovation of Conway Park, located at 550 Somerville Avenue, shown on Assessors’ Map in Map 45- Block B-Lot 14.

This is a reimbursable 50:50 grant requiring a minimum project expenditure of $1,500,00.00. The City Council approved the grant application on January 28,2021 (Docket no 211148) and approved the renovation funding for the park in the amount of $3,000,000 on 10/22/2020 (Docket #210645). Now with this request, we are seeking approval to accept the grant.

The City owns the land by virtue of a tax taking deed dated March 30, 1937, as recorded in the Middlesex County (Southern District) Registry of Deeds in Book 6109, Pages 478. Conway Park has been dedicated to open space and recreational use in perpetuity according to M.G.L. c. 45, §14.

The City submitted a LWCF application for the Conway Park project during the Notice of Funding Opportunity window that ended on July 31, 2021. The funding approval from the National Park Service was delayed, however the City was granted a Waiver of Retroactivity and therefore was able to continue with construction. The project has now been completed, and the park reopened.

Appropriate staff will be available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your consideration of this item.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Katjana Ballantyne, Mayor