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Walden Woods Project asks Concord select board to begin talks on restoring former landfill at 759 Walden St.
Summary
The Walden Woods Project urged the Select Board to include the 35-acre former landfill property at 759 Walden Street in land-use planning and begin discussions with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation on restoration and recreation options.
Kathy Anderson, executive director of the Walden Woods Project, told the Select Board on April 14 that her organization seeks a formal dialogue with the town and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation about restoring and preserving the Town-owned 35-acre property at 759 Walden Street.
Anderson said the site, which hosts public works facilities, a solar array and the former Concord landfill (closed 1994), sits adjacent to the Walden Pond State Reservation and has been used intermittently since 1958 as a landfill. She delivered a letter, signed by 208 Concord residents, asking the board to include the former landfill site in the scope of the recently formed Land Use Matrix Committee and to open concurrent discussions with DCR and the Walden Woods Project about long-term restoration and reuse.
Potential future uses described in Anderson's remarks and the submitted addendum included habitat restoration, pollinator and grassland habitat, pedestrian trail connections (including a wildlife/pedestrian overpass to link Brewster's Hill to Walden Pond), continued solar arrays, and educational programming. Anderson emphasized that the letter did not comment on any specific town meeting warrant articles nor on any current plans for a cellular tower at the site. She requested the Select Board begin discussions soon while other town property decisions (including at MCI and other sites) are underway.
The request places the former landfill on the agenda for upcoming land-use planning; staff and the board said they would share the request with the Land Use Matrix Committee and the Department of Conservation and Recreation for follow-up.
