Round Two of Mitigation Sees Focus on Play

The Dedham Mitigation Funds Committee heard another round of proposals last night at Town Hall as competing city departments continue to vie for the town's $1 million in mitigation funds.

The room filled to capacity when the town's Parks and Recreation Department presented its proposal for a new playground at Condon Park. Acting Parks Director Bob Stanley thanked the Mitigation Committee for its efforts last year to fund , and hoped to hear more of the same for this year's park.

The Condon playground proposal is one of the larger ticket items this year, coming in at $191,000. One of the selling points of this new playground would be its .

Members of the Open Space Committee were also on hand to deliver their $47,000 next to Condon Park at Colburn and Bussey streets, to be named Mill Pond Park.

The planned park would improve access to Mother Brook Beach, and provide "wildlife observation and passive recreation," important features to the town's surging elder population, committee member Jonathan Briggs said.

"Mill Pond Park will help to increase our town's passive recreation, something our senior population has been asking for," he said.

Passive recreation includes low-impact and environmentally conscious activities like hiking, bird-watching and picnicking. 

Other items on the agenda included a $30,000 proposal by the Economic Development Department to "rebrand" Washington Street in hopes of mitigating the loss of business from the area's lengthy public improvement process.

Public Works asked for a new $175,000 street sweeper and a $185,000 dump truck, as well as $725,000 for a new sidewalk on Rustcraft Road.

Dedham's Director of Public Works Joe Flanagan told the committee that Rustcraft Road is seeing a lot more foot traffic thanks to Legacy Place, and that can be a safety concern without a sidewalk.

"A lot more people are walking down that road [to/from the train station] now because of Legacy Place and that can be a real hazard," Flanagan said.

The Dedham Council on Aging also asked for $57,000 for a new van.

The mitigation fund is designed to offset fiscal impact that Legacy Place and New Bridge on the Charles  have on local businesses. Developers paid roughly $1.5 million to the town to create a mitigation fund.

The Mitigation Fund Committee makes recommendations on how the town should spend the money, based on proposals from various town departments. The funding requests do not necessarily have to have a direct correlation to Legacy Place or New Bridge, although committee members have said a connection to one of the two developments could boost an application.

Committee members will next make official recommendations, which go to the town administrator, and then off to the Capital Expenditure Committee. All spending is ultimately approved at Town Meeting.