GREENFIELD — Broadband internet could be coming to two new neighborhoods with help from a Community Development Block Grant.
The city is looking to use funds acquired from the grant program to expand Greenfield Community Energy Technology broadband services and to build a pocket park near the new Olive Street parking garage.
In total, $93,000 is available for the two projects. The money comes from repayments of Community Development Block Grant loans used for housing rehabilitation projects in the city, according to Grants Administrator MJ Adams.
Of the total, Adams noted that $63,000 will go toward efforts to spread GCET’s broadband internet coverage to two locations — the Hillside Park neighborhood and between Beacon and Smith streets.
Adams said the money would go toward salaries of GCET employees who will engineer the wireless broadband network to the two areas.
According to GCET General Manager John Lunt, the two areas would be connected in May.
The remaining $30,000 will be used to develop a pocket park in between Bank Row and the soon-to-be Olive Street parking garage.
According to Mayor William Martin, the pocket park will be built to honor two aspects of Greenfield’s history — beehives and dinosaurs.
The location will have an informational kiosk, highlighting the history of beekeeping in the city, which is the birthplace of the modern bee hive, according to Martin.
And to pay homage to Greenfield being one of the first locations in the world where dinosaur tracks were found, the city will also install either a preserved dinosaur footprint or a cast of one.
The location will also have landscaping, lighting and benches installed, Martin said.
The Community Development Block Grant program is funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and provides resources to address a wide range of community development needs, according to the program’s website.
According to Adams, the two activities are approved uses under the Community Development Block Grant program. The city held a public hearing on the two projects Wednesday, but no community members were in attendance.