HAVERHILL — Dan Speers, chair of the Native Americans Task Force and Haverhill poet laureate, will go before the City Council on Tuesday night to outline plans to celebrate the new First Nations Park’s grand opening.
Speers will provide an update at the council’s meeting on the dedication Saturday of the new park at the corner of South Elm Street and Railroad Avenue in the Bradford neighborhood along the Merrimack River.
Councilors first agreed to planning for the park in 2023 at the recommendation of the Haverhill Historical Society and the Native American Task Force. The 1.4-acre park was built by the Procopio Companies, who also developed its next-door neighbor, The Beck, a 290-unit apartment complex completed last year.
Earlier, Speers told the council the area’s history dates back 13,000 years, when Native Americans gathered along the banks of the river each April and May for a celebration and to build fishing dams to trap sturgeons.
“This new city park celebrates the enduring legacy of the First Peoples and the river’s natural heritage — including the return of the endangered shortnose sturgeon each spring,” Speers said.
The dedication ceremony, which is free and open to the public, will honor the indigenous people who collected nearby.
Other business
Mayor Melinda Barrett will also submit an order to make changes to the city’s all-night parking ordinance. The proposal would expand Haverhill’s winter overnight parking restrictions by moving the start date from Dec. 15 to Nov. 15 and the end date from March 15 to April 1. The mayor and City Council would still be able to adjust the dates depending on weather conditions.
Under the ordinance, between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., vehicles generally cannot remain parked on the street for more than one hour during the winter restriction period. In certain residential areas, residents can park on alternating sides of the street according to the city’s schedule.
During heavy snow or an emergency, Department of Public Works Director Robert Ward and Police Chief Wayne Tracy can temporarily change the parking schedule to allow for snow removal.
If approved, the winter parking period could last for about four and a half months instead of three months.
The council also will consider filing a State Revolving Fund loan application for work involving the South Mill Street Pumping Station force main.
Barrett will ask for approval to apply for state funding to pay for fixes to the force main, which carries wastewater from the pumping station to the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
The request stems from the sewer pipe failure in June, when the force main broke and untreated sewage entered the Merrimack River. A 42-inch sewer force main failed, and at its height, the state estimated that about 8 million gallons of wastewater per day were being discharged into the river.
Haverhill then put a temporary bypass system in place so wastewater could once again be sent to the treatment plant. Now, the recommended permanent fix is to replace the failed 42-inch force main with two 36-inch force mains.
Earlier this month, the City Council approved a $26.19 million appropriation to finance engineering and construction improvements to the South Mill Street Pumping Station and force main.