The City of Springfield has granted construction company Hartman and Company approval to proceed with construction on the Fassnight Stormwater Improvement Project at the Springfield Art Museum beginning March 15.
As part of the Springfield Art Museum Master Plan, the project involves the restoration of Fassnight Creek along Brookside Drive between Greene Avenue and Kings Avenue. The goal of the project is to restore the creek to a naturalized channel, reducing the risk of flooding to the art museum and surrounding residential properties and for the benefit of flood mitigation, water quality and the creation of habitat for native birds and pollinators.
The City project team is working alongside Hartman to determine a construction timeline and discuss possible impacts to traffic as equipment and materials begin to mobilize. These details will be communicated to the neighborhood through regular email updates. To subscribe to these updates, visit the “Notify Me” tab at springfieldmo.gov and select “Fassnight Stormwater / Springfield Art Museum Masterplan Updates.”
In preparation for construction, a City sewer contractor conducted sanitary sewer pipe lining near the project site in early March. This preventative maintenance work will help make sure wastewater service in the neighborhood is not affected by the upcoming project construction, which will include updates to sanitary sewer mains running beneath the creek.
Also in early March, City arborist crews worked to relocate the sycamore tree located on the southwest portion of the art museum grounds. Crews used an airspade to remove dirt from the root system, then replanted it at Nathanael Greene Park until it can be moved back to the art museum grounds.
“Due to the sycamore’s root system and the make-up of the soil, we had to remove some of the root system. To ensure that the tree is able to thrive where we want to plant it, we are going to temporarily move it to Nathanael Greene Park, where it will recuperate and regrow its root system. Once it has recovered in about a year, we will replant it on the museum grounds,” said Springfield Art Museum Director Nick Nelson.
For more information on the project, visit springfieldmo.gov/samstormwater.