John Champion shares the latest:
Either next week or the week after, DEEP is going to send a
crew to cut down the Phragmites at the Duck Pond. I will not know until the
morning of his visit what day he will be out there. On the east side of the
river, he will access the work area from the service road on the Boulevard. On
the west side of the river, he will need to access the work area through the
Parks Headquarters parking lot. I advised him that should check in at the front
desk to gain access. He will be doing cutting and does not think that it will
take a significant amount of time.
This will be a long process and this cutting is the first
step. I did point out the plantings on the east side of the pond that he needed
to be careful around and he seemed confident that he would cause no collateral
damage. For an example of what the result may be, you could take a look at the
area next to the river on the south side of route 34. The view of the river has
been restored and the open area is a big improvement.
Other information this week-Terry Contracting has begun to
move equipment into place on route 1 in preparation to start investigating the
concrete apron at the tide gates. This apron was installed at the time that the
original tide gates were built and Terry has to work around it in some way to
install the coffer dam. They have also completed submittals for the 48”
stainless steel pipes which are now ordered. All of the submittals for the DOT
permit have been submitted and we expect that the steel for the cofferdams is
going to be delivered this week and next week.
Schumack construction (the contractor at the Duck Pond) has
installed a silt fence on the west side of the river in preparation for the
delivery of soil to build up the area that may too low to prevent some minor
flooding of the soccer fields. They intend to grade that area next week when/if
the ground freezes so that access area is not chewed up and damages the field.
MMI inspected the layout of the pathway and boardwalk this week and requested
that the surveyor return and stake out the center line of the path is several
additional areas. The City Plan Dept, Parks and MMI have approved a change in
design to the railing of the boardwalk so that it is less bulky and will
require less maintenance. CFE will negotiate these changes with Schumack.
