Mayor gets initial approval for $5.1 million Koutoujian Park loan

The city is moving forward on a more than decade-old project to turn the former Woerd Avenue dump into a city park.

The 7-acre property, which contains the existing Koutoujian Playground and skate park, sits on a former landfill. Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris told the City Council’s Long-Term Debt and Capital Planning Committee at its Jan. 20 meeting that the state had determined the site is environmentally hazardous and mandated its cleanup.

Last week, Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy asked the City Council to preapprove an additional $5.1 million loan for the project.

The city already received a Section 108 federal loan to redevelop the property. 

Waltham’s Housing Director Collett Casey-Brenner, speaking on behalf of the city Planning Director Robert Waters, told the Long-Term Debt and Capital Planning Committee that progress has taken so long in part because the city had to ensure development on the site would meet environmental standards.

The city plans to cap the landfill to make the site safe for future use and redevelop it into a mixed-use green space. Casey-Brenner said the space would include skate and bike parks, a playground, workout stations, a basketball court, a tennis court, open green space with local plants and wild grasses, walking paths and parking spaces for visitors.

Harris said that the development has been a long time coming, noting that the land has been a part of city master planning since 2014.

“Nobody wants to see unused land. Nobody wants to see land in decay,” she said. “This project really does need to move forward. The community needs it.”

The city put the project out to bid late last year, and the three lowest bids — from the Onyx Corporation, J. Bates & Son and David G. Roach & Sons — ranged from approximately $7.4 million to $8.2 million. 

According to Waters, the city’s planning director, signage and equipment for the site would cost an additional $374,890.

Casey-Brenner said the $5.1 million coming from the new loan would pay for required costs remaining after money from the Section 108 federal loan was spent. She added that the city has already paid back $1.05 of the $1.06 million it borrowed through the Section 108 loan program.

She also said the city plans to determine a contractor and begin moving the project forward as soon as possible.