After decades of planning and 10 months of construction, the new incarnation of Stephens Field off Sandwich and Fremont streets opens on Friday.
“It’s been a lot of work by a lot of people to get to this point, so it’s nice to finally see this project coming to completion,” said David Gould, director of the town’s Energy and Environment Department, who is overseeing the project.
A “soft opening” is planned for noon on Aug. 2, Gould said, meaning most of the park will be ready, but some work remains to be completed. The basketball court and ballfield won’t be finished until the following week. Some landscaping and a topcoat of asphalt for the Sandwich Street entrance will happen in the fall, he said.
Otherwise, the playground, tennis and pickleball courts, picnic areas, boat launch and bathrooms are ready to go. “We wanted to make sure the public could enjoy the park for part of the summer, even as we finish up some details,” Gould said in a follow-up email.
The town is planning a formal ceremony this fall to mark the field’s opening and to dedicate the new pedestrian access from Sandwich Street as the Chet Downie Scenic Overlook, commemorating Downie’s many years running summer programs and the snack bar at Stephens Field.
“I am so delighted with the way it has turned out,” said Joan Bartlett, an early member of the Friends of Stephens Field (and the subsequent design committee created by the town) who helped to plan the restoration of the park. “The new overlook is very special. Now you have a great view of the field and the water from Sandwich Street. It’s such a change.”
The view from Sandwich Street also shows that much of the park’s infrastructure has been pulled back from the shoreline, and the land regraded, to lessen the impact of flooding during storm tides, which are worsening because of climate change.
The small duck pond remains. It’s been dredged and the old underground outfall pipe that used to drain the pond is gone, replaced by a small waterfall that spills into a swale and meanders to the shoreline, spanned by a wooden foot bridge.
Like other parks in Plymouth, Stephens Field will be open from dawn to dusk, every day. The newly installed decorative park lights are set on a timer and will go off at 10 p.m. each evening. The new pavilion and bathroom building has a snack-shack concession space, which will be put out to bid in the spring of 2025 seeking an operator.
“This is one of the many projects we are doing that make Plymouth a great place to live and to raise a family,” said Town Manager Dereck Brindisi.
Friday’s opening marks the near-end of a $5 million construction project that reshaped the park, following decades of decline and a sometimes-halting planning process. At one point, more ambitious plans for the space, that included new lights and more bleachers for the ballfield,were scaled back because of the cost.The work was funded by $4 million in Community Preservation Act funds and $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.
“One of the most impressive aspects of this project was how passionate the residents of Plymouth felt about Stephens Field,” said Bill Keohan, former chair of the Community Preservation Committee and a leading advocate for the park project. “Now, opening Stephens Field is like a barn-raising for the whole community. We have a new park, for a new generation to make new memories of their own.”
While she is looking forward to Friday, Diane Harting, a member of the Friends of Stephens Field and design committee who lives nearby, says she’s already taken a sneak peek behind the fencing and is happy with the outcome. “I have to admit, we trespassed a few times,” she said. “It’s been a long process, and we had to change a few things because of the costs, but I think it is wonderful. The playground is beautiful, and people are really going to enjoy the whole new park.”
Informal planning to improve Stephens Field dates to 2009 with a conceptual master plan for the site. Formal action began in spring 2013 when Town Meeting created the design committee and appropriated $190,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to pay for the initial design.
Community officials cite various reasons for the project’s slow progress. Environmental testing and remediation were more extensive than expected, they said. Beyond that, the first round of bids for the project came in higher than the estimated $2 million cost for the project, prompting a redesign and request for additional funding. And management of the project shifted among town departments, slowing momentum.
“It took longer than it should have, it cost more than it should have, but the final result is absolutely spectacular,” said Select Board member John Mahoney, who also sits on the Community Preservation Committee.
Michael Cohen can be reached at michael@plymouthindependent.org.