EAST PROVIDENCE — The Kent Heights Playground/Park renovation project, stalled for a moment due to the need of more funding, received an influx of cash from the City Council after the body at its Tuesday, Dec. 19, meeting agreed to reallocate $1,000,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act., or ARPA, funds towards the endeavor.

The infusion of funds brings the balance earmarked for the project to $1.4 million, adding the ARPA money to a Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management grant the city applied for in the fall/winter of 2021 and was approved for in the spring of 2022.

Tuesday's change, done through ordinance procedures, had the blessing of Ward 3 Councilor Frank Fogarty, in whose district the park is located and from whose original ordinance the money derives.

Fogarty, absent from the night's proceeding for family reasons, initially sought approval from his peers to earmark $5 million of the city's then $14 million in remaining ARPA funds to be used for the generic "improvements to the infrastructure of water, sewer and roads as acceptable use of the funds." He gained that late this past summer.

Mayor Bob DaSilva and members of his administration, who were lobbying for all of the $14 million to be used for his proposed recreation/community center, as well as At-Large Councilor Bob Rodericks all were in opposition to the outlay. Rodericks said at the time his disapproval stemmed from the lack of specificity in Fogarty's plan.

After continued urging for other uses by the administration and some of his Council colleagues throughout the fall, Fogarty relented for the first time, accepting that $3 million of the $5 million for infrastructure be transferred to the rec/community center project, which also allowed that effort to proceed upon a similar vote at the body's December 5 meeting.

At that same gathering, Director of Public Works Dan Borges informed the Council the Kent Height plan, formally referred to as the "Kent Heights Recreational Facility Improvement project," was well underfunded.

The administration gained access to $400,000 from RIDEM’s “Rec Grant” program, which requires at least a 20 percent match from municipalities a year-and-a-half ago. The application read, East Providence was seeking funds to support the "renovation of the Kent Heights Recreational Facility including resurfacing basketball and tennis courts, repairs to existing walkways, resurfacing/grading existing multi-use athletic field, new futsal court, accessible walking path and play equipment, landscaping benches, and bike racks.”

Upon a community meeting last fall, the creation of a new soccer field/cricket oval was also included as were adhering all of the proposed improvements to Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines. Approximately 100 new trees and shrubs are expected to be planted as part of the redevelopment.

Fogarty is also seeking to have a concession/bathroom facility be added into the project, suggesting the latter employ modern composting methods rather than the usual water/sewer.

"It's possible. It's certainly something we can look into, but we would have to engineer and design some sort of sewer service in that area and we would have to go back to DEM to confirm that we could actually excavate in that area because it a former capped landfill," Borges said last Tuesday of a potential construction of a conventional waste disposal system.

He continued, "There are quite a few issues and items up in the air related to a bathroom/concession stand. I can't give you for certain it's possible, but I can certainly move the discussion with DEM...As long as DEM allows it, it's something we can certainly do."

Borges noted the restroom/concession stand would likely not be able to be part of the existing parameters of the project as currently constituted, but it could be amended to accommodate its inclusion if feasible.

Ward 1 Councilor Frank Rego read and placed into the record Tuesday remarks and photos Fogarty submitted about the compost toilets, which DEM installed at a state-owned property in Warwick.

Borges said while there may be a blueprint to follow, using the compost method would still depend on "ground conditions" at Kent Field because there remains a need to excavate an area for installation as well as the requirement to get DEM permitting approval because the location is a capped landfill. In a previous incarnation, the current Kent Field location once served a garbage dump for the city.