POUGHKEEPSIE – The City of Poughkeepsie plans on spending $4 million to upgrade and modernize the city’s 18 parks. The work will include rebuilding and replacing aging equipment and making major upgrades at the green and recreational spaces.
The newly enhanced “PKGO-Parks Plan” will include American Rescue Plan funds approved by the federal government earlier this year.
Mayor Rob Rolison said it would cost some $9.8 million to complete all of the work at the facilities.
“You are talking about at some of the waterfront parks shoreline repair, boat launch repairs and actual new boat launch, which are million dollar-type price tags, that we are not going to do right now,” he said.
“Right now it is going to be concentrated on the infrastructure on land in the 18 parks of upgrades; playground equipment, ballfields, grills, benches, lighting, fences.”
The city has received nearly $10 million as its first installment in federal rescue funding, and some of that will be used as revenue replacement to offset lost revenues attributable to the pandemic.
The upgrade plan does not require common council approval, the mayor said.
The city’s Parks Infrastructure and Enhancements Plan has been developed with the assistance of New City Parks, an offspring of the Regional Plan Association. The plan consists of two types of improvements: Park upgrades and large capital improvement projects. Park upgrades consist of small projects, such as repairs to existing playground, additional lighting and tables and grills and improvements to basketball courts. Large capital project items are more complex in nature and, as a result, will most likely require environmental reviews and regulatory permits, such as rail-trail links and boat dock upgrades and shoreline stabilization at municipal waterfront parks, the mayor said.
The city is already working with New City Parks and Scenic Hudson on vast improvements to Malcolm X and Pershing Avenue parks, and the city’s additional financial commitment will provide upgrades to numerous other parks as well.
A specific breakdown of the park improvements can be found here.
