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Construction on Burlington's Overlook Park has begun, and Recreation Department officials say some additional funds will help ensure the project can be completed as planned.

A redesign of the park, part of which is located at 1 Edgemere Ave. (the site of the Burlington Players' Park Playhouse), has been in the works for several years. A survey was administered to the public beginning in December 2023 to see what kinds of recreation opportunities residents would like to see in the area. Since then, the Recreation Department has worked with design firm Weston & Sampson to design a park that will meet accessibility needs as well as passive and active recreation desires of community members.

Preliminary estimates for the overhaul, which includes accessible parking, walkways, and trails, came in at $2.3 million. Town Meeting approved this sum in May 2024, but a million of that was offset when the town earned a competitive grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund later that year.

The bidding process for the project took place in the summer of 2025, and construction started just before Thanksgiving. So far, work has begun on the accessible trail, including the construction of stone retaining walls to ensure accessibility for people of all physical abilities.

Old cement slabs have been removed, along with the basketball court and playground, and the driveway at the top of the hill has been widened. Over the next few months, a new, fully accessible, playground will be built. Assistant Director of Parks & Recreation Kelly Lehman says she's hopeful the project will be complete early this fall.

"We are very excited about the project," Lehman said. "It's undergone such a transformation over what it was before."

Still, some tough cuts had to be made during the planning process so the project could stay within the approved $2.3 million budget.

Most were site amenities, said Parks & Recreation Director Brendan Egan. "We changed out from granite curbs to Cape Cod berm," he said, and they decided to install fewer plantings. They also pulled out nice-to-have items such as benches, bike racks, signage, and a shade structure. "We pulled those out and tightened the contingency [fund] to be sure we could complete the project," said Egan.

In addition to these "value-engineered items," it became clear to Egan early on that the project would benefit from a professional construction manager, rather than the Department attempting to manage the project. They hired Weston & Sampson for the management portion of the project, which also impacted the project's bottom line.

"We've learned a valuable lesson," Egan said to the Ways and Means Committee (the town's finance committee) at their January 21 meeting, "and realized that we need to secure the design and construction management up front for all of our future projects." Currently the project expects to absorb construction management costs into the department's revolving fund.

However, developments in another public improvement project might allow the town to restore the cut items and strengthen the project's contingency fund.

At Town Meeting in May 2025, $303,401 was approved for improvements to the walkways and bandstand on the Town Common – a project which will be going out to bid later this year. At the time, the Town Administrator had requested state money for the project, but the budget hadn't been finalized. The town learned this summer that $250,000 had been allocated for the project in the state budget.

The Recreation Department, who will also manage that project, is asking that $250,000 of the previously-approved funding be shifted from the Town Common walkway project to the Overlook Park project. Egan told the Ways & Means Committee the Department will use the funds "to help us reinstate the value-engineered items, take the construction management back out of our revolving, and add to the contingency of the project."

Of the sum, $140,000 will be used to restore the curbing and other amenities, $62,000 will be added to the contingency to address unforeseeable expenses, and $48,000 will go toward construction management. Any funds not needed for the project will be returned to the town. Since this funding has already been appropriated, this doesn't represent a new budget request but a shift from one project to another with the addition of state funding.

Egan reinforced that the scope of the project hasn't changed from the original plan, which focused heavily on accessibility. "We love that it's an accessible open park in an area of town that doesn't really have that right now," said Lehman.

Lehman added that there will several ways to access the park and many passive recreation opportunities. "We love the connection to Little Brook conservation area so while people are three enjoying the park it also backs up to 30 acres of conservation land if they wanted to do some hiking or more exploring." She went on to say she's especially excited about the accessible playground.

Town Meeting Members will vote this January on whether or not to approve this shifting of funds. Ways & Means voted 12-0 in favor, and the Select Board also supported the article unanimously.

This article is a part of Burlington Buzz's coverage of January's Town Meeting, which will take place on January 26. For a summary of the entire warrant and live updates throughout Town Meeting, see the Buzz Warrant Summary.

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