McCoy Stadium feasibility study to begin this month - by Donald Grebien

The city of Pawtucket continues moving forward. Along with being on the frontlines of the Coronavirus pandemic working to keep its first responders, residents and businesses safe, the city continues to focus on the long-term economic future for our community.

Although Pawtucket has endured many challenges during the extraordinary times and unusual challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak, we remain deeply committed to completing the transformative projects throughout the city, including Tidewater Landing – a $400 million economic development project that will revitalize the city’s downtown and riverfront for years to come.

On a separate track, the administration and city council have announced that, through Commerce RI’s Site Readiness program, a geotechnical study of McCoy will begin this month. The study, expected to be completed in August, includes assessing data from the area and checking stability of the site to determine its feasibility for the next use.

The state and city have ownership of the stadium and land. Fuss & O’Neill will be conducting the geotechnical study including ground borings.

Commerce RI awarded the city of Pawtucket a site readiness grant of up to $60,000 to perform a geotechnical study, including ground borings, in the area of McCoy Stadium. The site readiness program partners the Rhode Island Commerce Corp. with municipalities and/or developers to fund municipal technical assistance and site-specific planning and improvements to catalyze development throughout Rhode Island.

We have a number of potential options and need to have more clarity from the analysis on what can and cannot be done, we will be able to move forward looking at all of the possibilities.

On behalf of the city of Pawtucket, I thank governor Raimondo, CommerceRI, the Pawtucket city council and the Pawtucket state delegation for their continued partnership.

Donald Grebien is the mayor of city of Pawtucket, R.I.