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Map of Fernald Site
(PDF file, 250kb, requires free Acrobat Reader)

Satellite Image of Fernald Site

In this issue:

• Grant Awarded from Boston Foundation
• Views from Waltham's Southside
• FWG Vision: Welcoming public discussion and support
• Trapelo Neighborhood Association's Public Meeting with Developers
• Explorations with local & regional developers
• Insight into Part of the Vision: Wetlands at Fernald
• Local Facts...did you know?

1) Grant Awarded from Boston Foundation
WATCH and the Waltham Land Trust jointly won a $25,000 grant from the Boston Foundation to support their involvement in the Fernald Working Group. Specifically, with the grant, the groups will: 1) Convene several community planning meetings to obtain input on the site's redevelopment 2) Prioritize environmental issues and identify sustainable redevelopment projects for the site 3) Present the community plan to the Governor

2) FWG Vision: Encouraging Public Discussion and Support

In the last two months, the FWG has met with several more organizations to share ideas about the Vision document, which details the potential for the Fernald site to be reused as a neighborhood with significant open and recreational space, housing for a range of incomes, abilities and ages, public meeting space, small retail space, and a variety of transit options, using sustainable, energy efficient building techniques.

There is a lot of interest in this issue. The FWG's ideas have been well received and we've collected useful input from new voices. We have added many more names to our contact list. With future follow up, we hope to add more organizations' names to our list of supporters. This list already includes COFAR (MA Coalition of Families and Advocates for the Retarded), WCONA (Waltham Council of Neighborhood Advocates), Waltham Historical Society, Marist Missionary Sisters, Goldencrest-Hobbs Brook Association, Waltham Affordable Housing Committee and others...

We'd like to introduce the Vision to your group and find out what your members' ideas are! Fernald Working Group members are available daytimes and evenings, weekdays and weekends to talk to your organization's members, board, and/or staff. We can give a 15-minute overview and receive comments, or engage participants in an hour-long discussion. Join the growing group of people and organizations who are thinking about and working on the future of the Fernald site because decisions made now will affect Waltham for decades. Please contact Erica at WATCH to set up an appointment, 781-891-6689.

3) Views from Waltham's Southside

WATCH's summer intern, Vassar student Emily Loomis, filed this Fernald-related update on her work in the Souithside. While interning at WATCH CDC, I have had conversations with 119 Waltham residents in wards 9 and 5 about their neighborhoods, Waltham in general and the possible reuse of Fernald. Here is some of what they had to say:

• 79 residents (66%) had an opinion about what they wanted to see at the Fernald site.
• Of this 66%: 34 (43%) wanted affordable housing above all else. 27 (34%) wanted open space, parks or playgrounds. 18 (23%) had other ideas, which included programs for children and teens, as well as space for artistic and cultural events.

Many residents supported both affordable housing and open space, and agreed that the site is large enough to address more than one of Waltham's needs. Clearly, support is strong within the community for the Fernald Working Group's ideas and there are many Waltham residents who want to get involved.

4) Trapelo Neighborhood Association - Public Meeting with Panel of Developers

The Fernald Working is co-sponsoring the Trapelo Neighborhood Association's upcoming public meeting. The meeting will feature a panel of representatives from Avalon Bay, JPI Corporation, and Lexington Hills, developers with projects currently going forward in, or on the border of, northeast Waltham. An understanding of these projects may help us all in thinking about what we most want in the reuse of land at Fernald and in the process to determine that reuse. The public is invited to attend; there will be a question and answer period. Thursday, August 19th, 7:00 pm, Waltham Public Library 735 Main Street, downstairs in the Lecture Hall.

5) Explorations with local and regional developers

As a way to contrast the FWG's evolving Vision with potential private development that might take place if Fernald Center were to be declared surplus and sold on the open market, a series of meetings with local developers is planned. We may also discover some like-minded potential development partners. What would work on this site that is commercially viable? What are local and regional developers thinking about? To this end, a brief meeting with Vincent Barletta of Barletta Engineering in Canton took place in June. A site visit will be needed in order to formulate a hypothetical plan. The FWG expects to meet with other developers in upcoming months.

6) Insight into part of the Vision - Wetlands at Fernald

Many people are unaware that the site of the Fernald School once contained extensive wetlands. The land slopes southward from Mackerel Hill (on Trapelo Road) to Lawrence Meadow (on Beaver Street and Waverley Oaks Road). A spring-fed marsh east of the National Archives and Records Administration building still feeds a stream that runs southeast through the Fernald property. The land east of the wetlands was about ten feet higher than it is now, and sloped down into the wetlands. Neighborhood children used to sled on this hill. The stream emerged from the south end of the wetlands, and ran southward on the east of the Greene Building and by the chapel.

In 1976, construction to build the cottage complex greatly disturbed the wetlands. The construction stripped away about ten feet of soil, gouged out the gently sloping hillside and filled in most of the wetlands. The stream was culverted from the edge of the NARA property to the remnant wetlands, and appears to have been diverted into the storm drains. One can observe water pouring from the wooded west side of the road into the storm drain near the Site 7 building. In addition to their environmental value, wetlands can provide a balance between our natural and constructed surroundings. Wetlands protection laws were passed just a few years after the initial 1967 construction at Fernald. The Fernald Working Group supports restoring these disturbed wetlands on the western side of the campus, opening up the stream again, and widening the natural area that runs along the western border of the campus.

7) Local Facts: Did you know?

• Massachusetts has the highest asthma rate in the nation, with a significant effect on children.
• Between 2000 and 2004 the average rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in Waltham and the greater area went from $979 to $1419. That's an increase of 45%!