MONTAGUE — The Selectboard executed an agreement with the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts on Monday, authorizing the town to use $80,750 in grant money for improvements to Peskeomskut Park and a reuse study for the Town Hall annex.
As presented by Town Planner Walter Ramsey, Montague is the only community in the state to have two projects funded during this most recent round of Economic Development Council grant awards. Both projects were part of the town’s 2021 Downtown Rapid Recovery Plan, an extension of a state-level plan created to help communities recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic.
The improvement project at Peskeomskut Park, funded using $30,750 of the grant, will focus on renovating the bandshell and installing a “landscape barrier” adjacent to Seventh Street. The project is set to begin later this spring and conclude in the fall.
“This would specifically fund physical improvements to the park because demand for the outdoor events really was high throughout the pandemic,” Ramsey explained. “That’s made it both evident that there’s a lot of potential there in the park, but it has also made some of the shortcomings there in the park evident as well.”
The work, headed by Assistant Town Planner Suzanne LoManto in collaboration with citizen advisors, specifically entails upgrading performance lighting and adding awnings to the side of the bandshell. The landscape barrier would include a new sign and surrounding plants that would better isolate the park from Seventh Street and the nearby shopping plaza.
“The idea is that the people enjoying the show now have a little bit of a buffer … both visually and sound-wise,” Ramsey noted. “Between the better lighting, landscaping and screening, it’s going to make for a really pleasant experience for cultural events.”
The Town Hall annex project was initially considered during a Selectboard meeting in late November 2021. During their discussion, town officials mulled the future of the largely vacant annex, including the potential to use it as a multi-purpose space for media and the arts. The idea first arose as part of the town’s Rapid Recovery Plan one year after the space was vacated by the Department of Public Works in October 2020.
Of the full Economic Development Council grant, $50,000 will go toward a reuse study to “explore cultural and media uses of the space” in both the annex and Town Hall basement, Ramsey said. Additionally, he continued, part of the space could be delegated for municipal uses, such as office space and storage.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.