Abington’s Community Preservation Committee is looking to again direct most of the upcoming year’s spending toward improving the town’s parks and recreational facilities.
The committee is proposing to spend $926.000 in Community Preservation Act funds on five projects, including a much discussed street hockey rink at Arnold Park.
Voters can weigh in on the proposed slate of projects Tuesday night during the committee’s annual public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. at Town Hall.
“The Community Preservation Act provides a way to make direct improvements to the town, and receiving public feedback is an important part of the process,” said committee Chairwoman Rachel Collins.
The projects are funded through the town’s 1.5% Community Preservation Act property tax surcharge. It will be up to Town Meeting to give a final thumbs up or down.
The committee has an estimated $1.5 million to spend in the fiscal year starting July 1. Of that money, $959,000 is left over from this year.
It’s advancing a slate of seven projects. These projects include:
- $500,000 to build a street hockey court at Arnold Park, redo the basketball court, and make other improvements.
- $250,000 transfer into the town’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
- $25,000 to cover the engineering for a proposed new pathway from the Library to Broadmeadow Road.
- $90,000 to pay for higher than expected bids for the Island Grove snack shack reconstruction.
- $60,000 for phase 2 of the Green Street playground renovation.
- $1,600 for the last section of fencing at Griffin’s Dairy.
The street hockey rink at Arnold Park has been more than two years in the making. It’s being championed by the leadership team of the Abington Street Hockey League.
The league currently plays its games at the fenced in basketball courts in front of the Abington Police Station. However, the courts are being demolished as part of the Fire Station/DPW project, leaving the popular program homeless.
The street hockey rink would be partly subsidized with a grant from the Boston Bruins Fund.
In addition, the existing basketball court would be refurbished and fenced in allowing it to also be used for street hockey.
The renovations also include overhauling and relocating the existing 20-year-old playground.
Select Board members have raised questions about the plan. Board Chairman Kevin Donovan said he believes the deed for the park prohibits building structures on the site, but it isn’t clear if it refers to fences and playgrounds or buildings. Other board members wondered if a vacant stretch off Gliniewicz Way would be a better spot for the courts.
Arnold Park is under the control of the Parks & Rec Commission, which has signed off on the street hockey plan.
Town Meeting approved $185,000 for phase 1 of the Green Street playground improvement project. Phase 2 will add additional playground pieces.
Town Meeting also approved $60,000 for the Island Grove snack shack repairs back in 2022. It took more than two years to develop engineering plans and bids came in more than double the original expectation.