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What to do with vacant brownfields sites in the North End is the focus of a neighborhood workshop on Thursday, July 18th. The workshop is part of the City’s Environmental Stewardship Department’s effort to determine the best future use of various brownfields in New Bedford. The neighborhood workshop will be at St. Anthony of Padua Church starting at 5:30 pm.
The City, with assistance from US EPA and the state’s Brownfields Support Team initiative is looking to redevelop several vacant properties in the Bullard Street area neighborhood in a way that best matches the needs of the community. These properties include the Dawson Brewery site at 29 Brook Street, the western portion of the Elco Dress site at the corner of Church and Collette and the 3.2 acre Payne Cutlery site at 295 Phillips Avenue, which comprises most of the block bounded by Church, Coffin Avenue and Oneko Lane. In addition, the workshop will explore future uses of the Phillips Avenue School at the corner of Ashley Boulevard and Phillips Avenue.
Mayor Jon Mitchell said, “I feel strongly that any proposed reuse should take account of the needs and interests of the surrounding neighborhood. So, I encourage residents to use this opportunity to express their preferences and make sure their voice is heard.”
The July 18th workshop is part of the City’s initiative with EPA to develop a Brownfields Area Wide Plan for the portion of the North End bounded by Sawyer, Ashley Boulevard, Collette and the railroad. US EPA has been piloting the development of area wide plans to stimulate the re-use of brownfields where multiple brownfield sites are in close proximity, connected by infrastructure, and where redevelopment may enhance the economic, environmental and social prosperity of the surrounding neighborhood.
The Future of the Neighborhood Workshop will be translated for persons who wish to participate in Portuguese and Spanish. Participating partner organizations include the City of New Bedford, US EPA, MassDEP (Department of Environmental Protection), and MassDevelopment. The City has retained multi-disciplinary planning and development team headed McCabe Enterprises, planners and economic development specialists, in conjunction with Pare Corporation, engineers and scientists; Carol R Johnson Associates, landscape architects, and Paul Lukez Architecture, urban design and visualization.
