The area around downtown Westfield will become more open soon. Westfield Parks Director Melody Jones said Construction Waste has been hired to demolish six homes that are within the area that will be the future Grand Junction Park. The contract, which is for $44,000, will be funded by park impact fees.
“There is a lot of demolition going on around the city. New things are right around the corner,” Jones said.
On July 1, the Westfield Parks Dept. issued a second Request for Quote for the demolition of six properties in downtown Westfield that are within the area that will be the future Grand Junction Park. Jones said these properties include three on Park Street, two on Mill Street and one on Jersey Street.
“We received five quotes. All were higher than we estimated,” Jones said. “We held a meeting with the city utility supervisors to review both the water and sewer disconnection options to see if we could reduce the cost.”
Utilities are being disconnected now and should be completed by Sept. 20. Jones said the demolition is expected to begin Sept. 23.
“It’s a 30-day contract, but it shouldn’t take that long,” Jones said, adding that the six areas should be demolished, graded, seeded and covered in straw by mid-October. “They’ll be cleared sites with erosion control and hopefully in the spring grass will grow.”
Jones said trees have been tagged to preserve on the sites.
“We’re going to save any trees or garden plantings,” she said.