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Concord schedules June design charrette and tightens MCI master‑plan timeline
Summary
Community development staff told the Select Board the MCI master‑plan team is finishing an illustrative plan and will hold an intensive public design charrette June 8–11; consultants will present alternatives and draft zoning later this year, while the town and state work through property, access and wastewater constraints.
Concord’s Community Development Director Alisa Sandoval told the Select Board the master plan for the former MCI site is moving from broad vision work to an illustrative plan, and that the project team will hold a weeklong community design charrette June 8–11.
Sandoval said the charrette will include an opening workshop and a closing presentation (both evening public events), drop‑in open‑studio periods, and stakeholder focus groups on topics such as housing, transportation, natural resources and historic preservation. The sessions will be live‑streamed on Minute Man Media and recorded for later viewing, she added.
The consultant team is preparing an illustrative plan that lays out heights, density and a mix of uses; Sandoval said that work should be complete by mid‑July and that a framework plan and draft zoning text will follow this fall, with an anticipated November draft zoning timetable.
Town staff and consultants highlighted constraints that will shape any redevelopment: agricultural land and state‑owned parcels, wetlands and flood‑plain areas along the Assabet River, the wastewater‑treatment plant buffer (residential uses should stay outside a 300‑foot buffer), and potential impacts from a state Route 2 rotary redesign. Sandoval also emphasized the site’s mobility advantages: the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail links the site to the West Concord commuter rail station by a 12‑minute walk or a three‑minute bike ride.
Board members pressed for clarity about which buildings on the site might be reused for public‑works operations and noted that the site has two property owners — the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Concord Housing Development Corporation — which will affect options. Sandoval said the team will prepare alternatives that assume different levels of municipal facility presence so the town can evaluate feasibility and fiscal impacts.
Public commenters and board members asked about wireless coverage for the site; resident Gail Hire pointed to an existing DOT antenna structure near the MCI parcel and urged that communications coverage be included in planning. Sandoval and board members said consultant scopes include mobility and communications questions and that the state and consultants are aware of those needs.
What's next: the public design charrette (June 8–11) will be the primary community‑engagement hub; staff encouraged residents to attend opening and closing sessions or use the online comment tools. The Select Board and staff said they will keep the project on the agenda as it moves toward draft zoning in the fall.
