PAWTUCKET – The city recently announced its decision to sell park land at 94 Moshassuck St. to JK Equities LLC for $280,000, while still preserving “a large original portion of Morley Field” as the company moves forward with plans to construct a distribution facility at the site.
The City Council recently announced that it passed two resolutions as part of a “compromise that saves” a portion of Morley Field, following public backlash to an initial decision to sell off the community asset to private industry.
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The new agreement spares the 2-acre Lot 291 at Morley Field, relegating the sale to a more than 3-acre section of the park, located in District 5 of the city.
The new agreement also lowers the sales price from the originally agreed-on $550,000, according to information provided by the Office of Mayor Donald R. Grebien.
An announcement from City Hall states that the neighboring Microfibres Inc. building has been a public nuisance, and that it’s now under demolition by JK Equities, clearing the way for construction of the distribution facility in its place.
The company’s plan to purchase part of the baseball field is needed to support the construction of the distribution facility on the neighboring site of the closed-down Microfibres factory, the mayor’s office said. JK Equities and city officials said the plan will create 450 jobs.
JK Equities is also pledging $1.5 million “to go toward the purchase” of a new park property that is either as big or bigger than the space it’s taking at Morley Field, according to the mayor’s office.
The new park property will amount to at least 9.4 acres of new green recreation space west of the Blackstone River as a result of one of the resolutions passed by the City Council, according to the mayor’s office.
A second resolution passed to have land on Grenville Street be revitalized as part of the initiative, in cooperation with the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association, the city parks department and a City Council recreation subcommittee.
“This balance comes from city government working for the people and listening to all of the involved parties to come to a fruitful determination,” Grebien said. “I thank the City Council for passing these resolutions. Working together, we will be able to keep needed greenspace in Pawtucket’s Fifth District, create a beautiful new greenspace in our city, and create new jobs and economic development.”
While the $280,000 purchase and sales agreement was approved by the City Council, the transfer of ownership will take place only after the completion of a park conversion process managed by the National Park Service and the R.I. Department of Environmental Management.
Meanwhile, the baseball field has remained closed this year by city government due to environmental concerns, including elevated levels of lead, gas and petroleum-related byproducts in the soil. The pollution of the public park grounds was discovered during the process of preparing the site for a proposed distribution facility, according to the mayor’s office.
City Council President David P. Moran said the resolutions related to Morley Field will “increase the greenspace on the west side of the city and support the cleanup of Morley Field with community input.”
Marc Larocque is a PBN contributing writer.
