News
Check back here often to learn what's new and what projects are in progress with your East Providence Parks Division.
Top Stories
- Kent Heights, Agawam and Rose Garden
New Park Shelter Construction
The Parks Division has completed construction of new park shelters at Kent Heights and Agawam Parks. The work will be performed by Parks personnel to keep costs down. The structures have been purchased with a Community Development Block Grant.
- Lyly Bourne Park - Rumford
The Parks Division is pleased to announce that the final phase of the park's transfer to a passive recreation area has been completed. Once a wooded and overgrown lot the property is now opened and seeded. Work was performed by Parks' personnel over the past couple of winters. The new acreage adds approximately 2 acres of new passive parkland and clear path to the playground on the Roger Williams Ave. side of the park. When future funding becomes available the Parks Division hopes to add picnic tables and benches to the park.
- Tree City USA
The National Arbor Day Foundation and the Department of Environmental Management, Division of Forestry is pleased to announce that the City of East Providence has again qualified as a Tree City USA. This is the sixteenth consecutive year that the City's forestry program has been given this national recognition.
- Hazard Tree Removals - Spring
2008 (Updated 4/19/2008)
North-Eastern Tree will begin the hazard tree program during the week of 4/21. Parks will be using a $15,000 CDBG award to remove as many hazard trees as possible. The work will start this April and will be performed by North-Eastern Trees, Inc. of Cranston. The City will be using the State tree services bid of which North-Eastern was the low bidder. The contractor will be responsible for the tree removal to stump. Stump grinding will still be performed by Parks Division crews.
- Tree Services - Spring
2008 (Updated 3/13/2008)
From November through March 12th the forestry program has completed 127 requests for tree trimming. Both city crews have logged over 700 man hours on this winter project. The Parks Division has started its tree pruning program this December. Many customers in Rumford and Kent Heights/Center have already been visited. The crews are currently working in the Riverside section of the city. In addition, a private tree crew has been selected through a state bid and should begin hazard tree removals by the end of March. Parks will be using a $15,000 CDBG award to remove as many hazard trees as possible.
- Tree Services - Pruning
The Parks Division has completed analyzing almost four hundred and sixty requests for tree services. The majority are for pruning such as contact with an abutting building. Approximately 120 requests will still require on-site staff review. Sidewalk/root conflicts have been forwarded to the DPW's Highway Division for inspection. The project was performed by comparing the requests with the data collected during this years public tree inventory. Prior to the inventory residents would need to wait for a staff arborist to visit the property, confirm it is a public tree and enter the appropriate work order. With no full time City Forester this process could entail a wait of one to three years. With money budgeted this upcoming fiscal year for an outside vendor to perform tree removals the Parks Division tree crew will soon start providing tree trimming services. The work orders are now in the process of being grouped geographically to ensure they are completed in as an efficient and productive manner as possible. The tree crew will be rotated bi-weekly through the various sections of the City. Tree pruning will consist of dead wood removal, height increases over roads and sidewalks and canopy reductions to correct contact with structures. Due to the excessive man hours required aesthetic pruning will still not be provided. The tree inventory personnel did not confirm whether a tree was public or private in all cases. If your request is for a private or boundary line tree a notice will be left at the door. Residents wishing to have a public tree aesthetically pruned may still hire a private arborist (arborist license is required under RI General Law) to perform this service at the residents expense. A free tree permit is required by City ordinance and may be found on the Street Tree FAQ page.
- Fall Construction Projects (Update
11/13/07)
The Parks Division is pleased to announce that the new gazebo at Rose Larisa Memorial Park is now complete. A view of the new structure is available by clicking on the PHOTOS tab above. This Fall the Parks Division will be working on at least two large projects. The first will be the replacement of all the fencing around both adult softball fields at Agawam Park on Pawtucket Ave. The fence fabric is already down in the rear field and we are currently painting the metal posts and top rail to match the new black coated fabric that will be going up soon. The second big project is the construction of a new gazebo at Rose Larisa Park. Once completed this structure will have one of the best views of the bay. These projects are on top of the fall park maintenance schedule of mowing, leaf removal and winterization of irrigation systems.
- Hull Street Playground (Update
10/20/07)
The new playground equipment has been installed and the finishing touches completed today. The playground is now open with two new pieces of equipment as well as new swings. The playground has our standard 5-12 year old equipment as well as a new 2-5 year old play structure. To reduce the cost of the project all of the work was completed by the Parks staff.
- New Playground Shelters
(Update 9/1/07)
The Parks Division has completed the removal and installation of a new shelter at the Riverside Recreation Area on Somerset Ave. and at Lyle Bourne Park on Roger Williams Ave. The work in Riverside involved demolition of the old shelter and concrete platform. To keep the cost down the new concrete pads and the work to build both new shelters were all completed by Parks Division employees.
- Street Tree
Inventory (Update 9/1/07)
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management recently awarded the Parks Division an America the Beautiful Grant. The grant has allowed Parks to perform a comprehensive street tree inventory. The data collection is finished with over 8400 trees cataloged from our streets, parks and public buildings. The Parks Division will analyze the data over the winter and prepare a report about the condition of the City's tree inventory next spring. The software for the hand held field units (PDA) and the data base software (MCTI- Mobile Community Tree Inventory) are part of the new United States Forest Service i-Tree Urban Forests package. This suite of new and innovative software helps communities track, manage and understand the value of their street trees. The software is distributed free to communities. Once completed the data base software will help the City establish a street tree management plan. Part of the suite also helps place a dollar and environmental value on our total tree inventory. MCTI also works with the STEMS (Street Tree Electronic Management System) software that Parks uses to track all tree service and maintenance requests. STEMS was also distributed free to communities by the Forest Service.