City asking for input on revamp of Roberts Park

City officials are seeking neighborhood input for a $2.8 million overhaul of Codman Square’s Roberts Playground that will largely focus on installing artificial turf to ensure the park has a longer season of play. A community meeting is set for Wed., March 21, at 6:30 p.m. inside the Great Hall on Norfolk Street.

The project, financed through the city’s capital fund, will be put out to bid next winter and completed by fall 2013, according to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

The park is used for cricket, softball, soccer, baseball, and football games. The city will work with users of the park, which has TechBoston Academy on one side and the Dorchester YMCA on the other, to find alternative space during the construction period.

Jackie Goddard, a Parks Department spokeswoman, said the community meeting’s agenda will include what type of perimeter improvements the neighborhood wants, ranging from a different fence, improved entrances, fewer entrances, and placement of bushes and trees. “Those will be fleshed out at the meeting,” Goddard said.

Roberts Playground is the latest neighborhood park to receive an upgrade. Wainwright/Loesch Park in the St. Mark’s neighborhood has been undergoing a reconstruction effort totaling $875,000, though work was halted on the project after the contractor failed to meet guidelines laying out the number of local residents and minorities working on city construction projects.

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