MONTAGUE — Appropriating money for the Montague Center Park improvement project and ownership of the former Farren Care Center property are among 16 items to come before Special Town Meeting voters on Tuesday.

Montague’s Special Town Meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Turners Falls High School auditorium. The full warrant, as well as supplementary information, can be found at montague-ma.gov/d/12190/Special-Town-Meeting.

Montague Center Park improvements

Article 8 asks to appropriate $500,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund for upgrades at Montague Center Park.

The project, considered a priority in both Montague’s Community Development Strategy and Open Space and Recreation Plan, was first discussed at a public meeting hosted by the Recreation Department in 2017.

“Approximately 30 residents attended with many speaking passionately about the park and its importance to the community,” the warrant background recalls. “The playground currently consists of a slide, merry-go-round, overhead ladder, climbing structure, balance beam, and a tot swing set; a rather undynamic playground that is rarely used by the community and not accessible to all.”

A project committee that later formed enlisted the Conway School of Landscape Design to facilitate a master planning process. The students completed a conceptual design in spring 2019 after meeting with the project committee and hosting a series of public workshops.

The plan, presented at a public discussion in April 2022, includes baseball field improvements; a relocated, covered picnic area; additional seating; a walking path; a pollinator garden; new trees along School Street; a new shed; a parking lot; and a renovated playground with new play structures. Parks and Recreation Director Jon Dobosz referenced the potential for a “treehouse-style climbing structure” as one of the main additions. The new playground, he said, would be more welcoming to children under 5 years old than the current playground, which caters more toward 5- to 12-year-olds.

While the town is currently looking to appropriate $500,000 toward the project, in July, it applied for a fiscal year 2024 Parkland Acquisition and Renovations for Communities (PARC) grant to help fund design and construction. The PARC grant is a reimbursement grant where communities must appropriate the total project cost and will be reimbursed based on their “community reimbursement rate,” which for Montague is 68%. The Recreation Department applied for $500,000 for Montague Center Park renovations, which will include design in FY24, and construction for FY25. If awarded, the town would be responsible for $160,000 of the project costs.

Farren Care Center property acquisition

Should Article 16 be approved, it would allow the town of Montague to take ownership of the former Farren Care Center property.

The former long-term care facility on Montague City Road, which closed in April 2021, received a demolition recommendation in November of that year, with parent company Trinity Health of New England getting the go-ahead to proceed on Dec. 6, 2022, when the Historical Commission opted not to invoke the town’s demolition delay bylaw that seeks to preserve and protect historically significant buildings.

With demolition complete, the plot of land will be loamed, seeded and given to the town. The town may then transfer ownership to the Montague Economic Development and Industrial Corporation, a semi-public town organization that can buy and sell property.

The town has hired Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB), a civil engineering firm, to determine potential reuse options for the property. The firm’s involvement comes as part of the Complete Neighborhoods Initiative, a regional project Montague entered into in February that provides grant funding to help envision the Farren site as “a mixed-use village center,” according to the town’s proposed project scope. The encompassed Montague City District Plan will “facilitate housing production,” as well as prime the Farren property and nearby parcels for a “mixed-used, walkable neighborhood” located by a Franklin Regional Transit Authority bus stop, according to the work plan.

Other warrant articles

There are seven funding-related articles on the warrant that pertain to the Clean Water Facility. This includes an article to add $209,000 to the $130,000 previously appropriated for the purchase and installation of a backup generator after bids for installation came in considerably higher than anticipated. It also includes an article to appropriate $95,000 to replace two pumping station generators.

Other articles involve allowing longevity payments for personnel, increasing the cost-of-living adjustment base for Montague Contributory Retirement System retirees from $18,000 to $30,000, and appropriating $12,885.56 to increase the Opioid Settlement Stabilization Fund.

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.