A Much-Needed Neighborhood Park and a Boost for Downtown
Beautify Framingham's Downtown and provide residents including low-income seniors with much-needed neighborhood green space.
What Are the Plans?
If we're successful in reaching our funding goal of $50,000, the state will match your donations, giving us a total of $100,000 to convert this vacant lot into a beautiful community gathering place. Located at an important gateway into Downtown Framingham, the park will be a space where residents of all ages, incomes and demographics can gather under the pergola, sit on a bench and read a book, or have a picnic lunch on the lawn, surrounded by trees. Please note: This is an all-or-nothing campaign! We must reach our goal by June 30 or all donations will be returned.
Designed with the community
Through a partnership with Patronicity, MassDevelopment, and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, the City has received design technical assistance from Copley Wolff Design Group. In October 2018, the City held a community design workshop attended by city residents, elected officials, and staff from City departments. Professional designers and staff led attendees on a site visit and through a series of exercises to collectively re-imagine this site at the corner of Irving Street and Arlington Street. Workshop attendees broke into groups and used cut-out pieces to design the future park, and then presented their recommendations to the larger group.
A landscape architect from Copley Wolff then synthesized the major wishes from the community and developed a conceptual design and budget. The concept represents a low-budget, quick-build option for the community to begin reshaping the site as soon as possible. Phase One of the park will include the basic elements of the design, including trees, benches, a winding path, flowers, a corner gathering place, and a shade pergola. Later phases will upgrade and expand on the community vision based on resident input.
A recreation amenity for underserved populations, and for all ages
The goal of this project is to create a small park that will provide an attractive and usable recreation space in a dense urban neighborhood, while also enhancing an important visual gateway into the downtown core. The corner lot sits on Irving Street, a busy two-lane street that connects Downtown to Southside neighborhoods, and is walkable to thousands of nearby residents and employees in the city’s historic train-oriented downtown area. The Southside of Framingham has a high proportion of low-income, minority, and/or foreign-born whose first language is often other than English. The area underwent an economic downturn in the 1980s and 90s after the decline of manufacturing and growth of suburban shopping areas caused a loss of well-paid jobs. The area contains high concentrations of low-income housing and social services. There are at least 93 units of senior and disabled housing within a block of the future park site. These and other neighbors have little usable open space in the neighborhood.
In recent years, the City and state have partnered to encourage reinvestment in the Downtown and Southside areas, recognizing the potential of the area to build on its existing assets such as the commuter rail station and unique cultural attractions. The first major new housing developments in decades are now under construction, and hundreds of new residents are expected soon. However, existing and new residents will continue to have limited options for neighborhood parks. The new Irving Street Park will provide much needed passive recreation opportunities for all ages, as opposed to playgrounds and sports facilities that mainly benefit younger residents.