Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the MCI Master Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Concord chairs review MCI master‑plan survey; debate continues over siting public works on MCI
Summary
Select Board leaders and committee chairs reviewed MCI master plan outreach showing 542 survey responses and discussed refining an illustrative plan this summer; participants debated whether a new public‑works campus should be sited at MCI and stressed the need for detailed financial and access analysis ahead of a September public review.
The town’s chairs and committee representatives met July 15 and heard an update on the MCI master plan engagement process, including consultant work that produced just over 542 survey responses. The chair said about two‑thirds of respondents had not attended the public charrette and that feedback showed support for new housing, retail, parks and walkability while raising concerns about traffic, rotary congestion, school capacity and infrastructure impacts.
The chair said consultants will refine the illustrative plan this summer based on financial feasibility work and community input, and that a public review of that illustrative plan is scheduled for Sept. 9 at the high school from 6–8 p.m. The select board’s land‑use working group is expected to present its report to the select board on Aug. 17 and the chair said the refined plan will be the single package presented at the September review.
Committee members debated whether the town should site Concord Public Works (CPW) on the MCI property as one option. A member of the Public Works Commission said reuse of existing buildings on MCI could make a public‑works campus more fiscally practical than rehabbing an existing CPW campus. “It is true because some buildings could be reused,” the Public Works Commission member said, noting that rehabbing the current public‑works campus could be more expensive and that alternative sites identified by a land‑use working group are often in neighborhood or agricultural areas and may draw opposition.
Participants also flagged technical constraints. The chair said there is a roughly 300‑foot guidance buffer around the wastewater treatment plant for residential uses but that the guideline does not preclude some public‑works uses, and that detailed space‑needs and access studies will be part of the refinement process. Committee members pressed that truck access and multiple access points (including preserving Elm Place) must be evaluated in negotiations with MassDOT and the state’s Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM).
Speakers stressed the need for further financial analysis and communications as the plan is refined. The chair credited a recent $500,000 amendment in a state bond bill (which still must clear a conference committee and the governor) as potential support for traffic and congestion analysis but said advocacy will continue to secure any final funding. The chair closed by urging the public to follow the master‑plan process and attend upcoming meetings for detailed briefings.
The town will present the refined illustrative MCI plan at the Sept. 9 public meeting; the land‑use working group’s recommendation and additional financial analyses are expected before that event.
