City Considers $2.7 Million Rehab of Lincoln Park

The city is looking at ways to rehabilitate , near the outside Union Square, and initial plans include converting much of the existing field to artificial turf, adding basketball courts that could be converted into a seasonal ice rink, building a field house and conducting landscaping and drainage improvements.

The cost to the city for all these changes would be around $2.5 to $2.7 million, according to Hayes Morrison, director of transportation and infrastructure with the city.

Morrison said the city is still investigating some of these options.

The city held a community meeting about the plans Monday night at the Argenziano School, and it has two more meetings planed, on Sept. 12 and Sept. 24, according to Morrison.

Artificial turf and a seasonal ice rink

Morrison said the current field, used mostly for soccer, is in "pretty bad shape," and one of the goals in rehabilitating it is to get more use out of the space.

An artificial turf field "can stand a lot more use over time," she said, and it doesn't need to rest for one season out of the year like a grass field.

The city would keep a smaller grass field next to the artificial turf one, she said.

"The city has heard a call for an off-season use in the park," Morrison said, which is why it's investigating plans to build a seasonal ice rink. She said basketball courts would be built out of concrete, as opposed to asphalt, allowing the city to convert the courts into a rink during winter. Morrison said it's possible to make ice even when temperatures are as high as 50 degrees.

An "amenities building" would house a Zamboni, a storage area, a skate rental office, a concession stand, an office and restrooms.

Morrison did not have specifics about the timing of these potential rehabilitations. "With the field"—the first thing likely to be rehabilitated—"we would like to do it when school is not in session," she said, which means next summer at the earliest.

Gale Associates, Inc., is the design firm working on the plans, according to Monday's presentation, which Morrison passed on to Somerville Patch.