Please join us Thursday, October 20 at 6:30pm at the Morse School Auditorium for DCR and CSS’s presentation about the design for Magazine Beach Park. (Draft design pictured above.) It’s critical that we have a good crowd there to demonstrate support for the project and to make last refinements. The goal is to have shovel-ready plans by the end of 2016. Then, all we need to do is find the $4 million to fund it.
The plan will:
*Create greater engagement with the river by widening the boat launch and adding two overlooks and a dock.
*Remove the broken wading pool to enhance the old grove of trees and picnic area.
*Include natural play features and a spray deck.
*Create a grassy lawn (where there now is pavement) between the swimming pool and the river.
*Rejuvenate the tree canopy by removing declining trees and planting new ones.
*Move parking closer to Memorial Drive, creating more park while retaining the number of parking places.
*Define park entrances and, with new pathway system, draw visitors into the park and along the river.
*Expand and open the Powder Magazine terrace so that the structure can better serve as a venue for events and sunset watching. (Note: The PM will have 2 public bathrooms.)
*Include resiliency features, including rain gardens and wetlands.
*Include a 10’-wide multi-use path along Memorial Drive for safer and more enjoyable walking, jogging, and cycling experiences.
The presentation WILL BE posted here following the meeting. DCR welcomes written comments at mass.parks@state.ma.us, sent by Monday, Nov. 7.
Also, there will be a Cambridge Conservation Commission Site Walk of the Park Wednesday, October 19 at 4pm. Meet at the Riverside Boat Club parking lot. If you’re concerned about tree loss, you should take this walk. You will learn, among other things, which trees are slated to be cut and why. Most of those trees are declining: they are partly dead and have been dropping major branches. Others slated for cutting are closer to Memorial Drive where we hope to move the parking lots, to create more park and a clearer western park entrance. Many trees will be planted to replenish the tree canopy.
Park design is all about trade offs. While no one wants to see trees cut–including us– we, the Magazine Beach Comm. of the CNA, believe that CSS’s proposed plan is a great improvement over what we currently have and that it will provide great overall benefit to Cambridge and beyond.
Come see for yourself: Wednesday (site walk) and Thursday (meeting)!
Magazine Beach 
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