Waterfront park renovation scaled back
Banner Daily Update posted Tues. June 26
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN – Angry that construction cost estimates for a proposed renovation of the waterfront park next to MacMillan Pier have doubled, selectmen clamped down Monday and ordered the Visitor Services Board to rein in the project.
As a result, the VSB, which has been leading the effort to renovate the park, will have to go back to the drawing board, reducing the $140,000 proposed budget by almost half. In addition, selectmen responded negatively to several items in the plan, including widening the park to extend into the municipal parking lot it runs alongside and moving or removing all of the memorial trees that are currently planted in the park.
“There’s a tree there with my father’s name on it,” said Mary-Jo Avellar, chairman of the board of selectmen, told VSB members at their joint meeting Monday night. “I have to tell you that does not make me very happy.”
The board voted to limit the cost of the renovation to $77,500, the amount that was approved at the 2003 Town Meeting for the project. The lone vote against restricting the budget came from selectman Lynne Davies, who, as former VSB chairman, had spearheaded the project.
“It [park] needs a tremendous amount of upgrading. It’s dark, it’s muddy, the lighting makes it seem threatening at night. Believe me, this [proposed renovation] plan is very simple,” she said.
For more on this story see the June 28 Provincetown Banner.
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Jun 21st, 2007