Both projects are seen as contributing to the ongoing revitalization of the downtown.
Easthampton Mayor Michael Tautznik hopes to secure $600,000 in state funding to build a boardwalk at Nashawannuck Pond.EASTHAMPTON — Mayor Michael A. Tautznik is hoping the city can persuade the state to fund the proposed boardwalk project and will again apply for a state grant.
The city will be applying to the MassWorks Infrastructure Program for two projects both seen as keys to revitalizing the downtown. The Planning Department is holding a meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building to explain the boardwalk project and a plan for the Pleasant Street Mills to link with Lower Mill Pond Park.
“Both projects will contribute to the ongoing revitalization of our downtown area and mills, and provide a stimulus for continued economic development in the city,” according to City Planner Jessica Allan, who is submitting the grants.
The city is seeking about $600,000 for the Nashawannuck Pond Promenade that has been in the planning stages for more than 10 years. The city applied for funding last year but failed to garner the grant.
The project at the mills is a public-private partnership, Allan said and she will be applying for about $3.6 million. Final costs are still being calculated for both projects, she said. The state is looking for “public-private partnerships.”
This is an artist's rendering of a concept plan for the redesigned perimeter of Nashawannuck Pond PromenadeOfficials want to see “the spinoff effects for job creation, how (a project) is going to impact future economic growth.”
The mill project would provide a better link to the park and pond, as well as more parking and would make front doors face the park, adhering to the vision set forth in the Urban River Visioning study done in 2002. She said that link would enable “a more visual connection” between those biking or walking on the Manhan Rail Trail, which runs along the pond, and might prompt riders “to get off their bikes and enter the mills.”
The proposed improvements include upgrading water lines, burying electric lines, building a new parking lot as well as installing new lighting. She said the mill owners have been unable to bring in some tenants because of a dearth of parking.
The boardwalk, the mayor said, “makes sense for the downtown.” He said it would improve the investment of Arch Street Development, which is in the process of buying the Dye Works building for affordable housing, and for Riverside Industries, which is investing more than $1 million in new windows in its 1 Cottage Street building.
The pond was created by Samuel Williston in 1846 to provide water power to an expanding base of manufacturing facilities. The city bought it in 1985 from the J.P. Stevens Company but left the iron fencing that was in place to keep people from trespassing.
“We want them to get near the pond,” Tautznik said. The plan includes a dock for boating and space for people to gather for concerts for example or for public art. He envisions offering wireless access there as well and sees the boardwalk as a way to bring people downtown and to the local businesses.
“The possibilities are really limitless. The pond has been a focus for a lot of years for us. It’s time to capitalize on it. It’s a very strong economic project.”
Allan said the meeting is a chance to explain the projects and answer questions and to enlist community support. Letters of support from business owners and residents would be submitted with the grant applications due Sept. 10.
Tautznik said the city is looking for letters of support from downtown businesses in particular for the boardwalk project.