The city is seeking federal brownfields money to clean up a former Caller Street industrial site and make it a key component of the proposed Riverwalk project.
The city purchased the former Clark Steel Barrel and Drum Co. site in June 2019 as the first of several sites it will piece together to create the Riverwalk along the North River.
The Riverwalk is intended to transform a slice of downtown into open space by reusing and making environmentally safe former industrial sites. The city’s brownfield draft application can be viewed on the city website, www.peabody-ma.gov
Public comments must be received by Oct. 26, 10 a.m. A public Zoom meeting will be heId on Oct. 21, 3 p.m. to present the application and solicit input from the public prior to submitting the draft application on Oct. 28 for the Clark Steel site.
“This is the first property we acquired as we continue to acquire property for the Riverwalk. We want to solicit input from the community,” said city Assistant Planning Brendan Callahan.
Plans call for turning the Caller Street site into one similar, Callahan said, to East End Veterans Memorial Park. The Riverwalk will run through the park which will have benches and information markers detailing Peabody’s industrial past and the North River’s history.
“Downtown lacks open space and this is about creating open spaces throughout downtown,” Callahan said.
The Riverwalk is on track for 75 percent design work to be completed by June 2021 with construction tentatively scheduled for 2022.
The project parallels efforts to reduce downtown, especially Peabody Square, flooding. Plans for a metal sheet-pile wall and a sloped bank designed to retard flood waters would run from Wallis Street by the post office to Howley Street.
Design work and construction will stretch well into 2021 and includes landscaping the Riverwalk to include areas for retaining water.
“Mayor (Edward) Bettencourt’s dedication to address downtown flooding issues and develop the Riverwalk signals a commitment to the future welfare of the community and provides opportunities to create other synergies,” Callahan said.
