Advisory board, consultants and DCAM outline outreach plan; DCAM says at least two more public hearings are required

Consultants, the MCI advisory board and state officials used the Feb. 25 kickoff to outline a public engagement approach for the MCI Concord study and to discuss coordination across town committees, school officials and neighborhood groups. DCAM emphasized that, as part of the statutory disposition process, it must hold a minimum of three public hearings; one has been held previously and the agency said at least two more will be scheduled and coordinated with the consultant‑led outreach.

The consultant and town teams described a continuous listening process that will run alongside technical analysis from March through June. The outreach program will include a project website, committee briefings, workshops and targeted outreach to groups the teams identified as commonly underrepresented in planning processes — BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities, families with childcare needs, youth, cost‑burdened households, local small businesses and the Concord Housing Development Corporation.

Paul LeBlahoggan, senior project manager at DCAM, told the advisory board: “As part of the enabling legislation that allows DCAM to ultimately dispose of this property, we were tasked with doing a minimum of 3 public hearings on this topic. We did 1 in September in collaboration with the town and have been holding our powder on that until we could integrate with your broader public engagement process.” He said the remaining hearings will be coordinated with the town’s outreach schedule.

Advisory board members and consultants discussed how to avoid overlapping outreach and to present consistent questions to stakeholder groups. The community outreach subcommittee of the advisory board offered to coordinate content and distribution so the town, consultants and committees do not repeatedly contact the same groups with different materials. John (advisory board member, community outreach chair, first referenced online) and others said the subcommittee will work with the consultant team to assemble consistent outreach content and a shared stakeholder list.

A specific next step noted at the meeting: the consultant team asked the town to share existing stakeholder lists and previously used outreach materials; the consultants said they will use those lists to draft an engagement strategy and then meet with the outreach subcommittee for a focused coordination session.

The meeting also identified near‑term outreach touchpoints: a school committee briefing scheduled in late March, planned engagement with the youth advisory board, and an upcoming public meeting on Warner’s Pond alternatives (rescheduled from March 13 to April 3), which consultants said they will track as part of broader community communication.