DCR looking to improve Sullivan Park

  Sullivan Park, currently an underused baseball field at Revere Beach Boulevard and Revere Street, could soon be an urban oasis with a bocce court, walkways and more than 100 trees. The state Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) project was before the Conservation Commission for a hearing regarding wetland buffer and stormwater management mitigation Wednesday night. The hearing will continue next month after the project receives a filing number from the Department of Environmental Protection.

  During Wednesday’s hearing, however, DCR representatives and project designers discussed how they will transform the nearly two-acre property.

  “Currently, there is a baseball field at the park, and the improvements will include turning it into more of a passive recreation park,” said Jim Jackson, a managing engineer with Pare Corporation in Foxboro.

  Jackson said the park is currently a little run down, and while the baseball field is utilized, he said, it is underused.

  “The DCR is really looking to invest significantly in this currently underutilized site,” said landscape architect Sklyer Chick of Shadley Associates. “It’s barely used by anyone and it is surrounded by a vast urban environment.”

  The park is bound by Revere Beach Boulevard on the east, Revere Street to the south, a National Grid parcel and Diamond Creek to the west and a recently completed six-story residential development at 320 Revere Beach Blvd. to the north.

  Chick said the DCR has held two public meetings since last year on plans to redevelop the park. One of the biggest steps the DCR will be taking is making the site fully ADA accessible, Chick said.

  Coming up from Revere Beach Boulevard will be paved concrete plaza with tree pits, benches and game tables. “From that plaza, you can view the beach across the street or look west into the park,” said Chick. “It is creating a terracing effect, where the plaza is at a higher elevation, and to the west of that is a bocce court terrace, and farther to the west is what we call the great lawn area.”

  The lawn area will also include a water feature with eight water jets that will be like a small splash pad, and a metal shaded structure. There will also be paved walkways throughout the park and planting of native flowers on the edges of the park.

  “We are also introducing a very large number of trees,” said Chick. “At the existing site, we do have to remove 10 trees; half of them are invasive species.” But in exchange, the DCR will be planting 101 new trees with 63 deciduous shade trees and 38 evergreen trees.

  “We think this is a huge improvement to the site,” said Chick.

  A small part of the park does extend behind 320 Revere Beach Blvd., and the DCR will be creating an easement so emergency and maintenance vehicles can pass through. Several Conservation Commission members did raise questions about whether the easement would be a large enough access point for the vehicles.