The city of Chicopee is looking for the public’s feedback on the final plans for the future western Massachusetts Post-9/11 and Service Dog Memorial Park.
According to a news release sent to 22News, a regional Post 9/11 memorial space will be located at the Westover Industrial Gate Park at the corner of Westover Road and Honeysuckle Drive adjacent to Westover Air Reserve Base. The plans for the park began approximately five years ago through a collaboration between its Veterans Services Office, Department of Planning & Development, and Department of Parks & Recreation.
Mayor John Vieau stated, “the City is honored to be in a position to host this unique park dedicated to celebrating and memorializing military service in the Post-9/11 Era. We are excited to share the current concept plans and look forward to hearing your feedback.”
Chicopee’s Director of Veterans Services, Stephanie Shaw said the park will be different than most memorial parks.
“What makes this park unique is that it stands to celebrate the growth, service, and the experiences that all service members have had following the tragedy of 9/11,” Shaw said.
In May of 2018, Shaw’s efforts were supported by Senator Eric P. Lesser who secured $75,000 in state funding for the planning of the new park. The 7.15-acre park will be the only park in the Westover neighborhood and the city’s first off-leash dog park. In its current configuration, it offers limited recreational opportunities to the neighborhood’s residents.
According to the news release the city has been working in partnership with regional engineering and landscape architecture firm, Milone & MacBroom (now SLR International) to advance the design of the project.
After multiple rounds of community input from residents of the Westover neighborhood, the city at large, and the regional veterans community, Milone & MacBroom has synthesized all comments into a final park concept.
For health and safety reasons, the public presentation to review the updated design concepts has been prerecorded and is available to view on the City’s websites, social media pages, and ChicopeeTV’s Vimeo page.
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