by Brandon Kunkel
If brownfields are a repellent and green park spaces are an attractant, how could the two ever meet? An imaginative burst is attempting to break that mold, as the rise of a soon-to-be former polluted property gives way to a new park. Looking to marry the two perceptions, the City of Framingham, the “City with a Heart,” is redeveloping the 15-acre site of a former paper mill and industrial landfill into a vibrant new multipurpose open space and recreational area for its residents.
The city developed a new master plan in 2013 that envisioned a new inclusive recreational park space while cleaning up the past uses of the brownfield site. The new Mary Dennison Park will not only restore ecological life on the banks of Beaverdam Brook and add comprehensive recreational activities to a blighted neighborhood, but it will also stimulate the kind of excitement the city has not seen in years.
The road from landfill to a new park has been a long journey led by the city’s vision for the community. Despite the existence of hundreds of thousands of urban brownfields throughout the country, many such sites do not become recreational parks or public open spaces. More commonly, the demise of the brownfields results in a fenced property that sits vacant for decades and, if lucky, gets rebuilt into some other private industrial or commercial development.
The Mary Dennison Park model, however, is an alternative “park first” approach, used to mitigate the cleanup costs. This model leverages on-site soil management to sculpt and create interactive and unique spaces that are both interesting to explore and inclusive to all users for a public park space. Value to the community, rather than clean-up costs, is the driving force in Framingham.
This concept can save substantial costs and invigorate nearby neighborhoods and residences that are projected to become noticeably more attractive in the coming decades because of the proximity to revitalized public green open space. Focusing on revitalization, Framingham removed the legacy toxins while focusing on the creation of the park space, and the city’s $43-million investment in Mary Dennison Park, along with other surrounding initiatives, could leverage additional neighborhood investment.
The landfill at the site of Mary Dennison Park
In his book, The Proximate Principle: The Impact of Parks, Open Space and Water Features on Residential Property Values and the Property Tax Base, Texas A&M University professor John Crompton cites 25 studies that demonstrate increased property values and lifestyles around the perimeter of parks. In some cases, the economic impact can be measured nearly ½ mile away.
Additionally, the US EPA has documented property value improvements of 2 to 3% within a one-mile radius of a cleaned-up brownfield site. Other studies have estimated that cleaning a brownfield site results in a 1.7 to 6.2% rise in property values but remediating it along with turning it into a park boosts values by 3.4 to 10%.
For local residents, Mary Dennison Park will represent a place of social gathering, relaxation, and play. The park, like most brownfield sites, is being capped using two to three feet of clean materials throughout the park area. Existing soils are being managed and maintained throughout the park parcel, reducing remediation costs by nearly 50%. There are also activity and use limitations on digging or disturbing the earth. Remediation costs, in the range of $16 million, are funded in part by the previous manufacturer, the city, and state and federal grants.
The nation’s brownfield problem took over a century to create. It may take just as long to repair, but it appears that parks, and the community health and economic value they create, can be a bigger part of the solution to our brownfield past.
Brandon Kunkel
Brandon Kunkel, RLA is the landscape design discipline leader in Weston & Sampson’s Design Studio in Boston.
