Concord committee names consultants, sets timeline for MCI master plan and zoning

Stantec and partner firms told Concord’s newly formed MCI Master Plan Committee that they have been hired to produce a master plan and a zoning package for the former MCI site, and outlined a public engagement and delivery schedule that aims to produce draft zoning by November and a final master plan and zoning package by December.

“I'm Maggie Connor. I'm a principal and senior urban designer with Stantech,” Stantech principal Maggie Connor said, introducing the consultant team. Phil Schaing, the project manager, told the committee the team will work in three phases: inventory and analysis, an early‑summer draft illustrative plan, and a fall framework/regulating plan that will be translated into zoning language.

The team said the first interim deliverable will be a draft illustrative plan early this summer, followed by a framework/regulating plan and fiscal impact analysis. “The goal of our team, our project timeline is that by November the draft zoning is ready to go,” Schaing said. The consultants signaled the full package would be available for town meeting consideration by winter.

Consultants stressed the difference between illustrative plans and regulating plans: the illustration shows one preferred outcome, while the regulating plan prescribes street locations, frontage lines and public‑realm controls that can be enforced in an RFP or sale agreement to help ensure a preferred outcome is built, the team said.

Paul Hogan, senior project manager on DAM’s real estate team, said DAM is expected to run any developer RFP for the site. “It's expected that that would be a DAM RFP,” Hogan said; consultants added that RFP requirements will reflect the zoning and town priorities established through the master plan process.

The team announced two near‑term public outreach milestones: a public kickoff on Tuesday, May 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Concord Free Public Library (Goodwin Forum), featuring a keynote by Jeff (Spect partner) on principles of great neighborhoods, and an intensive design week the week of June 8–11 with stakeholder workshops and two public events.

Town staff and committee members pressed the consultants on sequencing and implementation. Staff said a memorandum of agreement (MOA) is under discussion that would outline the process leading to an RFP and that wastewater‑treatment capacity and potential ownership transfer are being studied by separate engineering teams. The committee emphasized careful expectation‑setting at public events so examples shown at kickoff do not create outcomes that differ substantially from what ultimately reaches town meeting.

Next steps include updating the stakeholder list, promoting the May 5 kickoff, scheduling focused stakeholder sessions during the June design week, and a site tour for consultants and staff.