Newton Highlands and Upper Falls Playgrounds

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Projects:

Details for these projects can be found in the sections below.

Master Planning for Upper Falls and Highlands Playgrounds
Newton Highlands Playground (Winchester & Dedham Streets) Please note: The playground on Lincoln Street, also in Newton Highlands, is the Hyde Playground.
Newton Upper Falls Playground (Pennsylvania Avenue & Chestnut Street)

Goals:

Rehabilitate these community parks and playgrounds to meet current needs for active and passive recreation, based on initial site inventories and assessments, land surveys, community participation, and development of design alternatives leading to final designs.

Contact:

Commissioner of Parks & Recreation
City of Newton
246 Dudley Road
Newton, MA 02459
bderubeis@newtonma.gov
617-796-1500

Funding:

All funds for Recreation.

Master Planning & Design (Both Playgrounds)

$292,080	CPA funds appropriated
$15,580	Unspent CPA funds returned
$276,500	CPA funds spent for master plans & final designs

Construction (Newton Highlands Playground Only)

$2,500,000	CPA funds appropriated & spent
$123,750	Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds spent for accessibility (federal funds administered by City of Newton)
$231,674	City general funds spent (capital funds, Parks & Recreation Dept. budget)
$2,855,423	Total Project Cost for construction, excluding service building deferred to phase 2, anticipated cost: $342,000

Master Planning for Upper Falls & Highlands Playgrounds

Funding Process:

January 2005-March 2006 - Proposal (submitted January 2005) (This large document may load slowly.)
- Petition for Highlands Playground only (submitted to Parks & Recreation Dept. January 2005)
- Timeline & costs (submitted 24 March 2006)
March 2006 - Public hearing presentation (with photos) (This large document may load slowly.)
20 April 2006 - CPC funding recommendation
5 June 2006 - Board order (appropriation)

Project News:

1897 - Artist's view of Upper Falls Playground's future site
Spring 2008 - Upper Falls Playground Master Plan (This large file may load slowly.)
Spring 2008 - Highlands Playground Master Plan (This large file may load slowly.)
July 2011 - Highlands Playground revised site plan - Option 3

Newton Highlands / Joseph Lee Playground

Goals:

Implement the 2008 CPA-supported master plan by: rehabilitating this community park to improve the usability, accessibility, and aesthetics of the playing fields; installing new play equipment; and rehabilitating existing woodland paths.

Design & Construction Funding:

$200,000	Post-Master Plan final design: CPA funds appropriated & spent
Construction funding anticipated in 2013 design proposal:
$1,960,000	CPA
$1,180,000	Private donations/community fundraising
Construction funding requested in 2015 construction proposal:
$3,320,000	CPA
$10,000	Private donations/community fundraising
$2,500,000	Construction: CPA funds appropriated & spent
$123,750	Construction: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for accessibility (federal funds administered by City of Newton)
$200,500	Construction: City of Newton capital funding (Overlay Surplus)
$31,174	Construction: Parks & Recreation Dept. operating budget, including staff time for project management
$3,055,423	Total Project Cost, final design & construction

Funding Process:

2013-14 Design

14 February 2013 - Final design pre-proposal, with large-scale aerial photograph & map and board of site photographs
13 November 2013 - Final design full proposal, including: project summary, budgets, letters of support, supporting photos & maps (This large file may load slowly.)
22 January 2014 - Slide presentation to CPC public hearing and minutes of CPC public hearing
3 February 2014 - Additional letters of support
March 2014 - Updated project budgets & response to CPC/community questions
1 April 2014 - CPC funding recommendation
22 April 2014 - Board order (appropriation)
11 December 2014 - CPC agreement to revised funding conditions (elimination of non-CPA matching funds)

2015-16 Construction

12 November 2015 - Construction full proposal, including: project summary, budgets, project team, site history, city & state reviews of project design
Project Plans
Some files below are large and may load slowly. To see plans at full scale, set viewing to 100%.
Project Background Reports
- Geotechnical/engineering report
- Existing building report & drainage report
1 December 2015 - Additional community letters received by the CPC
10 December 2015 - After this public hearing, the CPC voted 7-1 to recommend $2,500,000 of funding for this proposal. The CPC docketed this amount with the City Council in December, but at the request of the Commissioner of Parks & Recreation, agreed to hold its written recommendation pending receipt of a final plan for the project, which might be phased or reduced in scope.
May 2016 - Commissioner of Parks & Recreation updates to the CPC
8 June 2016 - CPC funding recommendation ($2.5 million)
11 July 2016 - City Council order (appropriation)

Project News:

Spring 2008 - Highlands Playground Master Plan (This large file may load slowly.)
July 2011 - Revised site plan - Option 3
May 2018-March 2019 - Final report to CPC, with photographs and financial summary

Upper Falls Playground

Goals:

Implement the first phase of the CPA-supported master plan.

Funding:

$450,000

CP funds requested (historic resources)

Funding Process - Construction:

December 2007 - Proposal, with attachments:
- Declaration of historical significance by the Newton Historical Commission (23 October 2007)
- Other attachments: aerial view, historic documents, letters of support, etc.
23 January 2008 - Public hearing presentation (with photos)
19 March 2008 - CPA eligibility review (based on statute as of 2008)
Based on advice from the City of Newton Law Department, the CPC declined to consider this proposal in the historic resources category until its historic resources rationale had been strengthened.