City receives next round of funding for stadium

Date: 7/13/2010

July 14, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE -- The Patrick Administration announced last week that Chicopee was one of five Massachusetts communities to be awarded a grant funded through the Gateway City Parks program.

The Gateway City Parks supports significant park projects for underserved urban populations and Chicopee received a $332,500 construction grant for the rehabilitation of Szot Park stadium.

Mayor Michael Bissonnette explained to Reminder Publications the funding would pay for two specific parts of the renovation of the Szot Park stadium and field: the installation of new energy efficient stadium lighting and an irrigation system designed to reduce water consumption and improvements to address field drainage issues.

This is the second grant the project has received, Bissonnette noted. The first one was a planning grant used to hire a consultant to determine what steps could be taken to make the stadium and field more energy efficient.

"The idea is to make the stadium the most energy efficient one in the state," he said.

The state money only pays for about 70 percent of the costs and Bissonnette said the city's 30 percent share would run about $130,000. He said his administration is now working to identify those funds.

"This is the kind of thing we couldn't do on our own," he added.

Since the city had won the planning grant, he said he had been "fairly certain" Chicopee would receive the second round of funding.

The irrigation and lighting constitutes the first phase of the renovation of the facility and Bissonnette said the second phase would be the modernization of the rest rooms and locker rooms.

"They definitely need an upgrade," he said.

Szot Park "gets more use than any other park in the city," he noted.

The other communities that received grants were Fitchburg, Lawrence, Pittsfield and Taunton.

"I know from growing up in Chicago that parks make a big difference in city life," Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement. "These Gateway City Parks projects will invigorate neighborhoods and improve the lives of our residents."