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| OPENS SPACE – DCR’s PASSIVE PARK AND WALKER POND Passive Park at the Charles River Reservation In early May, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (MDCR) held a public meeting to provide an update on the plans for a new Passive Park at the Charles River Reservation. While the site is under the control of the MDCR, it is situated at the corner of Greenough Boulevard and Arsenal Street at the corner Watertown’s East End and will provide Watertown residents a large open space for passive use. You can see an excellent slide presentation from the May presentation here. It includes information about the the project’s goals, the proposed schematic design, and timeline. The hope is that construction will happen between January 2027 and January 2028. A few of the key goals include providing a safe and welcoming passive park including trails and seating areas, connecting to existing bike and pedestrian networks, evaluating a safe crossing of Arsenal Street to access parking on Greenough Blvd, offering accessible parking spaces, and providing a strong focus on landscape restoration. Some of the components in the Park will include an accessible walking trail, a woodland walk, a wetland boardwalk, picnic areas and tables, wayfinding markers, and interpretative signage. If a passive park accessible to Watertown residents is something you are concerned about and you were not able to attend the MDCR’s 2nd community meeting in May, you may wish to look more closely at the presentation and sign up to be notified about project updates and future community meetings. Walker Pond Watertown’s major open space project – Walker Pond – took a step forward since the last community meeting in November of last year when the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) voted at its May meeting to approve a proposal from the City for $990,000 for the next phase of the project. The funds are to be used to complete the project design, create construction documents, and provide cost estimates as well as address permitting issues, additional community outreach, and coordination with abutters. The estimated timeline for this phase of the project is 9 – 12 months. If the proposal is approved the City Council, it will be the second installment of funds from the CPC for Walker Pond. In the Spring of 2024 the CPC awarded the City, following approval by the City Council, $145,000 to “conduct ecological work, develop a feasibility study, and create a conceptual design”. Once the second phase of the project is completed, the City will have bid documents and then can issue requests for bids for the actual construction of the Pond. The estimated cost for construction is between $8 and $10 million. The City purchased the property in 2022 for $11.25 million. At the CPC meeting there was some discussion of where the money for the construction of the Pond would come from. City officials responded that they are researching various funding sources including public and private grants. You can see the Phase 2 – Walker Pond: Design Development & Permitting here. |