A project to install picnic tables and bike racks at Salter Grove State Park is expected to be completed this summer.
WARWICK — New picnic tables and bike racks are among the improvements that will soon be installed at Salter Grove State Park following the March 18 vote by the city council to approve the project.
Green Acres Landscape and Construction Co. of Lakeville, Mass., earned the contract at the suggestion of City Senior Planner Lucas Murray.
Of the estimated $126,739 for the project, $100,000 will be provided by a Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Community Development grant, Murray told the council.
About $1,700 will be funded by the city Parks and Recreation Department, and the city Department of Public Works will provide at least $25,000 of in-kind labor to prepare the site and install some of the items, Murray said.
“They’ll be preparing the site for asphalt for the playground installation, and they’ll be doing a lot of the finish work, the button-up work,” Murray explained. “It’s a great example of how the city can work with the public on a project and move it forward.”
Murray also acknowledged Peter Becker and Michael Jarvis the Friends of Salter Grove organization “who have worked with the city for the past year to get this project moved forward.”
In his letter recommending Green Acres for the project, Murray cited the company’s low bid among four bidders and his own experience working with Green Acres when he was a project planner for the city of Boston.
“I have no doubt that the work will be conducted in an efficient and professional manner,” Murray wrote.
Friends of Salter Grove, city plan to pursue more grants
Started in 2016, Friends of Salter Grove has led various efforts to improve the park, including a DEM restoration of the deteriorating causeway that the agency began that year.
On its website, FoSG noted that “[d]ue to funding constraints, two of the playground pieces and the site amenities originally planned will not be included in this contract,” adding that the group plans to “submit grant applications to cover these unfunded items plus safety fencing for the main parking lot and the new handicapped parking area.”
The new project is expected to be completed this summer, reported Murray, who added that spending the DEM funds rapidly will put the city in position to apply for more state money when the next round of grants is offered.
After the finance subcommittee’s unanimous vote in favor of the bid earlier on March 18, the full city council approved the project as part of its consent agenda.
The bid approved by the city council is embedded below. Salter-Grove-bid
Author: Joe Hutnak - [email protected]
Co-Founder and Editor-at-Large of Warwick Post. For Warwick Post-related inquiries or communications, email [email protected]
This is a test
