By Adam Swift
Last week, Congresswoman and Democratic Whip Katherine Clark announced that she secured more than $12 million for 15 community projects across the Fifth Congressional District.
The projects were selected in collaboration with state and local leaders.
Revere is set to receive $250,000 for the Revere Boatyard Remediation Project that will see improvements to Gibson Park.
“We are grateful that the earmark secured by Whip Clark will improve community spaces as part of our revitalization of Gibson Park,” said Mayor Patrick Keefe. “The Gibson Park project will create new recreational and athletic opportunities, and refresh the existing green space.”
Clark said the project in Revere and the others throughout her district will touch many lives across the state.
“I am proud to bring home critical investments that will construct welcoming and safe community gathering spaces, build affordable and accessible housing for seniors, advance our march toward a climate resilient future, strengthen our infrastructure, and so much more,” said Clark. “Thank you to the state and local leaders who partnered with me to help identify these priorities. Together, we are building a future more worthy of our children.”
Beginning in 2020 with RiverFront Masterplan, the city has been working to reduce risk and redevelop the area around Gibson Park and Mills Avenue Neighborhood to improve resiliency and recreational opportunities. Specifically, the project produced four goals for the project: creating resiliency, serving the community, addressing historic high tide flooding, and cleaning up the environment.
The park improvements include demolition of the existing baseball field, tennis courts, and community garden to construct nature-based resiliency intervention measures and low impact development to implement stormwater best management practices (BMPs),that include re-grading the property to a set design elevation, use of rain gardens/bioswales, and use of sub-grade stormwater infiltration and detention chambers. The park will be reconstructed to include a new multi-use field, new tennis and pickle ball courts, and an expanded community garden program. The estimated project cost is $2,876,104, according to the final legal notice for the Gibson Park
