On June 20, the Warner’s Pond Task Force hosted a workshop to update the public on our progress and to hear their feedback.
During the meeting, we shared what we have done so far: how we have been utilizing criteria from the town’s comprehensive long-range planning document, Envision Concord; reviewing and discussing past reports, public comments, and inviting experts to speak with us.
We asked those in attendance to address three questions:
What does the public want, and why?
What should we be looking at?
What are we missing?
Participants broke into small groups to discuss these questions where someone took notes. These were collected and shared with the Task Force. At the end of the meeting, each group reported their key responses to the full gathering.
We were excited to see the level of community engagement. The small group conversations were spirited and informative. We heard about issues like getting financial clarity on the costs of the different alternatives, the importance of the relationship of the pond system to recreational resources like Gerow Park, and the impact of the future use of MCI-Concord. Also, many community members shared their memories of the pond and conveyed its importance as a recreational resource now and into the future.
We regret that we had not made this meeting available on video. A mistake that we will correct in the future.
We left the meeting even more committed to ensuring an open, thorough, and transparent review of all the possibilities for improving the Warner’s Pond system for future generations. We are grateful to everyone who came and participated.
We plan to host another community meeting in the fall, when we hope to have some concrete ideas to share.
Christine Denaro, Commonwealth Avenue
Bill Kemeza, Davis Court
Co-Chairs, Warner’s Pond Task Force