The Town of Concord Waterfront Task Force on Monday agreed on a schedule to take public feedback and refine three competing proposals for Warner's Pond before a likely public meeting in February.

Chris, chair of the task force, said members should send written comments on current drafts by the end of the week so staff and the group's facilitators can prepare a standardized set of proposal summaries for review in January. "We want to get those in good shape so that they're ready to actually go out on public," the facilitator said during the meeting.

Why it matters: The task force is weighing three distinct approaches — a management-based 'no action' alternative, a dredging-based plan and a dam removal option — that carry very different costs, ecological outcomes and timelines. Members said presenting a clear, comparable set of proposals is essential to getting useful feedback from residents and to later deliberations.

What was decided: The group asked the work teams and staff to (1) collect written comments by Friday, (2) produce revised, consistent drafts with tracked changes, and (3) reconvene in mid-January to review those changes. If the task force is satisfied after January work, it will target a public meeting in February and aim to complete deliberations by March.

Members stressed format and transparency. Some members urged that evaluation criteria be published to show the framework guiding the group’s work, while avoiding publishing the task force's internal scoring in advance. "We are thinking about the criteria, and I think it's a worthwhile exercise maybe for us as a group to decide how we want to share that with the public," a facilitator said.

Next steps: Workgroups will incorporate technical comments — including cost and feasibility questions raised during the meeting — and staff will circulate consolidated drafts in advance of the January meetings. The task force signaled it would continue iterative review until members agree the materials are ready for public release.

The task force closed by scheduling two January meetings to continue drafting and to plan outreach logistics for the public meeting, which members said would include mailed notices and online materials.