City of Somerville, Massachusetts - File #: 23-1850

• File #: 23-1850
• Version: 1
• Type: Mayor's Request
• Status: Approved
• File created: 12/8/2023
• In control: City Council
• On agenda: 12/14/2023
• Final action: 12/21/2023
• Enactment date: 12/14/2023
• Enactment #: 216416
• Title: Requesting approval to accept and expend a $500,000 grant that requires a match, from the MA Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to the Public Space and Urban Forestry Division for a pocket park on the 217 Somerville Avenue site.
• 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 -

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
12/21/2023	1	City Council	Mayoral Approval
12/14/2023	1	City Council	Approved	Pass

Agenda Summary
title
Requesting approval to accept and expend a $500,000 grant that requires a match, from the MA Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to the Public Space and Urban Forestry Division for a pocket park on the 217 Somerville Avenue site.

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Official Text
To the Honorable City Council:

The Mayor respectfully requests that you accept the grant for the Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC) grant from the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, through its Division of Conservation Services. The grant, awarded at $500,000.00, will assist in the construction of 217 Somerville Avenue Park. The City owns the land by virtue of a sale of the property by Somerville Memorial Post No. 447, The American Legion Inc. from a deed dated 11/04/2019 as recorded in the Middlesex County (Southern District) Registry of Deeds in Book 73774, Page 428 and upon signing the city will also dedicate the park to park and recreational use in perpetuity according to M.G.L. c. 45, section 3.

The city has voted to appropriate $1,500,000.00 for this project and the Administration received the maximum grant amount of $500,000.00 from the state’s PARC grant program. The PARC grant program is a reimbursement program requiring applicant municipalities to appropriate the total project cost in order to be eligible.

The awarded grant funding will be used for the construction of a new pocket park along Somerville Avenue in the eastern portion of Union Square. The funds will be used in FY25 to install features such as passive recreation amenities, like benches and tables, spray features, and green infrastructure and stormwater management best practices.

The PARC grant must be accepted by December 31th, 2023, to receive reimbursements for FY25 grant round. Since this is reimbursement funding, the City hereby assures the State that we have the funds to finance the construction of 217 Somerville Avenue Park and will provide the State with ...