Malden Roosevelt Park Debate Continues As City Holds Community Meeting

MALDEN, MA — Debate over planned renovations at Malden’s Roosevelt Park continued last week at a community meeting at City Hall. Now, the topic is on track to come back before the City Council on Tuesday in the form of a proposed ballot question from City Councilor Ryan O’Malley.

If placed on Malden’s 2023 municipal ballot, as proposed, the question would ask voters for their opinion for or against city plans to lay artificial turf over a large portion of a redesigned park. Included on the City Council’s agenda, this proposed question comes as the latest chapter in a lengthy back-and-forth between project opponents and supporters.

“I know that this has generated a lot of conversation in our community,” Malden Mayor Gary Christenson said at the city’s community meeting last Thursday. “But what I hope won’t get lost in that conversation is that we are all here tonight because we care about this park and because we want the very best for our city.”

Both opponents and supporters of Roosevelt Park renovations largely agree that work needs to be done at the 3.7 acre park next to Malden’s Salemwood School. More than 100 years old, a portion of the park is currently fenced off due to lead contamination in soil that likely dates back decades.

As they agree on the need, stakeholders have disagreed over what renovations should look like.

The city has proposed and advanced plans to remove 15 inches of contaminated soil and lay a new largely artificial turf surface over the park.

Opponents, including O’Malley and many others, have argued against the turf option while calling for up to three feet of soil removal that they say would make the finished park safer for users.

In addition to arguments over soil removal and turf/grass field options, opponents have noted concerns about possible flooding, pollution and heat impacts of the city’s planned project.

The city of Malden has already secured approval from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a loan that would help pay for its project. HUD delayed the releaseof those funds earlier this year, though, in part citing community opposition. HUD requested new environmental review documentation to show proper community outreach and analysis of the project’s impact on area residents.

City officials on Thursday discussed the rationale for current plans at Roosevelt Park, saying that turf would provide a more resilient surface for an expected high volume of use of the park field.

“A grass field, even a new one, cannot sustain the amount of use that we see at the park, no matter the level of maintenance,” Malden Director of Athletics Charlie Conefrey said.

Officials said the project has measures to improve floodwater management in the Salemwood area while addressing contamination.

They also noted changes to project plans to reduce the size of the turf field, to add trees and to use a wood-based infill within the turf instead of crumb rubber pellets that are often used on such fields. Those changes, officials said, would all help mitigate heat island impacts, where projects including turf fields can raise ambient temperatures in their vicinity.

As supporters made their case, opponents on Thursday asked questions and noted continuing concerns about both the project and the city’s process of developing plans. Outreach, several opponents have said, was insufficient, excluding some marginalized communities directly impacted by possible changes at Roosevelt Park.

“Their voices were not heard during the designing and planning of this project,”retired Salemwood School educator and Malden resident Kathy Sullivan said. “What happened here was an environmental injustice.”

While still opposed to turf plans, O’Malley and fellow City Councilor Karen Colon Hayes both focused on the level of soil removal in discussing concerns about city plans.

The city’s proposed 15 inches, O’Malley said, will not be enough.

“Remove three feet, put turf down, great,” he said. “I don’t like it. But I would be OK with it. Three feet makes it safe. Three feet is all that we should be accepting.”

“We’re all Malden, so please, let’s at least start with cleaning up the toxic waste that is in Roosevelt Park,” Colon Hayes said.

Malden’s next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Malden City Hall.

The full community meeting featuring discussion on Roosevelt Park last week can be viewed here.