Cooley Brook is a beloved and prominent feature in Bliss and Laurel Parks. It provides scenic beauty and recreational interest for park users, and also serves the Town of Longmeadow as a whole by providing valuable stormwater management services within its watershed. For all of its importance to the Town, Cooley Brook is currently suffering from environmental degradation. For the past several years, the Town has been assessing and studying existing conditions within the Cooley Brook corridor. In 2020, a concerned resident group applied for and received a Community Preservation Act grant to hire the Conway School of Landscape Design to develop a vision statement for the futures of Bliss and Laurel Parks. The resulting document highlighted the increasing erosion occurring along Cooley Brook's banks, especially at the locations of stormwater outfall pipes in Bliss Park; sedimentation in Laurel Pond and in the impoundment caused by the abandoned waterworks infrastructure west of Laurel Pond Dam; and myriad invasive species located along the stream corridor. All of these factors are contributing to the ecological degradation that is threatening the habitat, hydrology, and aesthetics of Cooley Brook.
Following the 2020 Conway School project, the Town pursued several analyses regarding the removal of the abandoned waterworks debris. It was determined that the Town preferred to approach the project looking at the stream corridor as a whole, rather than simply removing one barrier to streamflow and allowing other concerning conditions to remain. Today, the Town is working with Tighe and Bond to undergo the Community Preservation Act funded hydrologic and hydraulic (H&H) study of Cooley Brook. The H&H study will identify some appropriate interventions to increase storage capacity for the brook, identify the impacts of removing existing barriers in Cooley Brook (including the waterworks debris), reduce/eliminate "unnatural" erosion along its banks, and slow the velocity of water entering the system during rain events.
The Town has recently re-engaged the Conway School to follow up on their original report "Two Visions for Bliss and Laurel Park" (2020) and the results of the H&H study by storyboarding / translating
the H&H study's technical information regarding the brook's condition and potential interventions into visual representations that the public can understand and provide input on. The Conway School's project will begin in April 2023 and run through June 2023.
The Town is soliciting applications for a resident seat on the Core Team of Town staff/officials and stakeholders to guide the upcoming Conway School project. Participation will entail an average of two meetings a month for three months to guide and inform the students' project. These meetings will occur during Town office hours (between 8:30-4:30) and may be in person or virtual. The Core Team will provide comments on the Conway School team's mid-term and final designs. Residents do not need any technical expertise to apply.
If you are interested in volunteering your time as a resident advisor on the Cooley Brook Core Team, please complete and submit the application below. Applicants will be interviewed by the Select Board, which will also select the successful candidate. Applications are due March 10, and candidates should expect to be interviewed at the March 20 Select Board meeting.
