Kimmerle, Beachmont residents oppose plan for new private park

REVERE – Ward 1 City Councilor James Kimmerle has vowed to fight a plan to reduce upkeep costs associated with Fredericks Park by turning part of it over to a private company.Private companies queried city officials last year about making “substantial upgrades” to Frederick Park in return for receiving permission to build an indoor youth soccer facility on the fringes of the park.Initial proposals included one for a 54,000 square foot building built and operated by a vendor who, in turn, would agree to lay artificial turf on park field for soccer, baseball and softball.The council last October tentatively endorsed the concept of bringing in a private park vendor after Mayor Thomas Ambrosino said the idea made financial sense.”Like me, the Parks and Recreation Commission members recognize that, given limited municipal resources, this athletic field is unlikely to receive substantial appropriations without private funding,” Ambrosino stated in a letter to councilors.Kimmerle, one of the council’s freshmen members, organized a meeting on Tuesday with Beachmont residents and vowed to fight any bid by firms to build in Fredericks.”We are vehemently opposed to the taking of a public park,” Kimmerle said.City officials last October assembled a questionnaire for prospective park vendors that included questions aimed at assessing vendors’ financial stability, previous experience running facilities in public parks, and ways their plans would benefit local youth groups.The Fredericks plan is similar to one proposed three years ago by state officials before Cronin Rink was refurbished. Skeptics of the private rink operation included councilors who questioned if the plan would provide sufficient and low cost access to the rink for local youth hockey groups. The plan was ultimately abandoned.Fredericks Park is not the first Ambrosino proposal to meet objections from Kimmerle, a first-time candidate who beat incumbent ward councilor Douglas Goodwin last year. Kimmerle has vowed to fight to keep Beachmont fire station open even though the mayor noted that councilors have agreed to sell it for private development.Kimmerle thinks Beachmont’s narrow streets lined with three family homes need a local Fire Department presence. Ambrosino thinks fire crews based at the new Parkway station and other stations can respond to neighborhood fires and emergencies.