As President of the Friends of Albemarle, I am pleased to support the City of Newton’s application for FY25 Community Project Funding for the Albemarle Stormwater and Phosphorus Control Project.
This project will allow Newton to reduce nutrient pollution entering the Charles River through Cheesecake Brook which cause harmful algal blooms and negatively impacts ecosystem health within the watershed. It will also address the increasing threat of localized flooding throughout the Albemarle Corridor by increasing flood storage and reducing total runoff volume.
Cheesecake Brook and the Albemarle Corridor play a significant role in the social fabric of Newton, providing valuable access to nature and a place for recreation and relaxation for its residents. As demonstrated in recent years, the threat of climate change brings ever increasing storm intensity and frequency. The proposed green and gray infrastructure in this project will help capture, treat, and infiltrate stormwater runoff, furthering the City’s MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) improvement efforts as required under the Clean Water Act.
We applaud the City of Newton for prioritizing resilience planning and taking proactive steps to address the challenges posed by climate change. I am confident that the successful implementation of this project will strengthen our community’s climate resilience as well as the public’s use and enjoyment of a valued natural space.
Newton PRC invites you to attend an upcoming virtual meeting to discuss project updates on Athletic Field Improvements at Albemarle, Burr School & McGrath.
In our Winter newsletter, we shared a post on Field Improvements. Here is the stand-alone version!
Fields, Lights, Trees, Courts and Paths – Moving Forward with No Delays
A beautiful plan exists to upgrade Albemarle with more trees, better footpaths, rain gardens, playing fields, pickleball courts and better, smarter lighting (like Newton North). It’s approved, funded and in place. Now we just need to finalize the design and find a contractor.
As a riverfront area (it’s a wetland and tributary of the Charles River), this project will be given a permit for the entire site. Once that permit moves forward, much like the pool redesign, the design team can swiftly move to finalizing construction documents and bidding this summer. Any delay will result in the delay of significant benefits to the community.
We do not want a delay. All of these improvements are badly needed.
They include:
· Park accessibility for all residents
· Upgraded equipment
· Safer routes for kids to go to school at Day, Fessenden and NECP
· Better and safer 4th of July, Indigenous Peoples day and other events.
· Newton Fire and Police Departments will get better and cleaner access to area
· Many multi-generational opportunities abound including pickleball courts and easier path use
· Addition of many trees throughout the park
· Environmental benefits of better, smarter irrigation and maintenance systems and process
· Improved traffic conditions by providing alternate modes of transportation through the park’s multi-use path
· Rain gardens that capture any run off into the brook, leading to a cleaner river and ocean
· Equitable access to athletic environments for the North side of Newton
We’re confident that, working as a community, we can all rally together to ensure that the entire permit moves forward on time to get these badly needed improvements for the north side of Newton.
Nothing like sending yet another good-news newsletter!!
Fair warning that exclamation points are in abundant (over!)use below.
The short version:
1. The Gath rebuild is currently on schedule
2. Increase in traffic safety through success of new back-in parking and RRFB
3. Exciting plans in play* for the fields, trees, lights, courts and paths…and your input is requested in an informal poll about bench styles and colors!
4. Interesting discussion series about Cheesecake Brook as wetland and tributary
5. Upcoming work includes a new bridge over the brook
*pun intended
1. Gath Pool Rebuild
The concrete for the lap pool has been poured, and the shell is fully formed! (!!)
Also, the concrete for the recreation pool has been poured, and the shell is fully formed! (!!)
The ADA ramp and stairs in front of the bathhouse have been poured.
The front of the pool and bathhouse are under development and also on schedule (!) – and the remaining work now is to finish the overall facility.
At the beginning of the project, there were plenty of unknowns, but with current assessments – all parameters are fairly well known now.
I think we can all agree that this is amazing and thrilling.
Want even more good news?
The contracting teams are receiving appreciation from neighbors – for being clean, timely, polite, focused while working weekend days, holidays and all weekdays. Wow!
2. Traffic Safety
The new Back-In Parking Pilot continues to be successful with 95-100% compliance at all times of day. Wow! Thank you to Newton DPW and to everyone who parks in the new way to make change happen. It takes all of us working together to make it happen.
We found that it takes about 3 tries to get the angle right, and then you’re a pro.
What’s the result of learning this new skill?
-People can now bike on Albemarle and be seen. (!)
-Drivers don’t blast horns anymore when someone is pulling into the roadway, since they aren’t doing it blind. (!!)
-It’s easier and safer to access the park from a vehicle since no one needs to walk broadly around open doors or to trunks exposed to passing cars.
3. Fields, Lights, Trees, Courts and Paths – Moving Forward with No Delays
A beautiful plan exists to upgrade Albemarle with more trees, better footpaths, rain gardens, playing fields, pickleball courts and better, smarter lighting (like Newton North). It’s approved, funded and in place. Now we just need to finalize the design and find a contractor.
As a riverfront area (it’s a wetland and tributary of the Charles River), this project will be given a permit for the entire site. Once that permit moves forward, much like the pool redesign, the design team can swiftly move to finalizing construction documents and bidding this summer. Any delay will result in the delay of significant benefits to the community.
We do not want a delay. All of these improvements are badly needed.
They include:
· Park accessibility for all residents
· Upgraded equipment
· Safer routes for kids to go to school at Day, Fessenden and NECP
· Better and safer 4th of July, Indigenous Peoples day and other events.
· Newton Fire and Police Departments will get better and cleaner access to area
· Many multi-generational opportunities abound including pickleball courts and easier path use
· Addition of many trees throughout the park
· Environmental benefits of better, smarter irrigation and maintenance systems and process
· Improved traffic conditions by providing alternate modes of transportation through the park’s multi-use path
· Rain gardens that capture any run off into the brook, leading to a cleaner river and ocean
· Equitable access to athletic environments for the North side of Newton
We’re confident that, working as a community, we can all rally together to ensure that the entire permit moves forward on time to get these badly needed improvements for the north side of Newton.
Tell Us What Furniture You’d Like to See at Albemarle!
Please take a few minutes to complete this informal poll and share your preferred outdoor furniture styles and colors.
Watch last week’s public meeting co-hosted by Charles River Watershed Association and the City of Newton about a grant from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management looking to keep pollution out of Cheesecake Brook, evaluate fish and wildlife passage, and help green the Albemarle corridor.
There are also educational resources on how you can help protect the water quality of the Charles River Watershed by making small changes to your property like adding rain gardens and other natural features!
Please save the date for the next public meeting in this series: Thursday, April 25th at 7:00 PM.
5. Upcoming Work
A new bridge will be built across Cheesecake Brook to support pedestrian crossings to the upgraded park and pool. It will line up with the path through Fessenden School and connect easily to Gath Pool and the new fields and courts.
There is a plan to formalize parking near Fessenden School as well.
This will be an ADA compliant-bridge that exists alongside the one placed just upstream back in 2021.
Thank you to Commissioner Josh Morse for these many awesome pictures! My pics just aren’t as good, but everytime I want a dose of awe I go and stand at this site.
Just IMAGINE the joy, connection, health, learning, and development that will happen here for generations.
Wow!
Still on schedule to open in June 2024. Double wow! A tremendous thank you to Luis Perez Demorizi for his phenomenal leadership of this project, and to Commissioner Banks and the Newton Parks, Rec and Culture team.
Having invested our time and energy into supporting safe and accessible community use of Albemarle over the past few years, we, the board of Friends of Albemarle, are writing to encourage you to please push forward with planned synthetic turf fields at both North and Albemarle. This letter is intended to represent the opinion of the board.
The organization for which we volunteer as board, Friends of Albemarle, is a certified 501(c)3 nonprofit with more than 500 members including two state representatives and half of Newton city council.
We care deeply about the environment and have fought consistently for open green space. In fact, it is this concern that makes us write to you today.
Newton has taken many steps to ensure the greatest level of environmental responsibility in the use of synthetic turf, including recycling the old turf. These two turf installations would bring us to a mere 6% of our total fields (118 acres total), leaving the other 110 acres to remain as grass fields. No other synthetic turf is planned. This is simply a way to manage extremely high-volume areas of use, much like we choose to use asphalt instead of dirt on our main roads.
Please be aware that any delay of the synthetic turf at Albemarle will also delay the installation of a planned bike and walking path that will create significantly safer conditions at Albemarle, not to mention improved grass fields, wetlands integration and rainwater management, and better lighting that allows for the healthy outdoor community recreation for which we have worked so very hard.
We don’t see a reason to unfairly limit the recreation of North students and Albemarle community users, especially based on the idea that a turf field is somehow different and more concerning than the many other uses of plastics in our homes and schools, from take-out containers to classroom chairs to playgrounds. With two synthetic turf fields on the south side of the city, we think the time is right for two functional fields on the north side as well (including a replacement of North’s turf so that games can proceed as planned).
We’re writing to celebrate and praise the new back-in parking format and painted bike lane for Albemarle. It is safer than it has ever been.The new signage is abundantly clear, the stripes are visible and usefully placed, and we are observing nearly 100% compliance. On both weekend and weekend mornings and afternoons, whether 1 car is parked at Albemarle (a rarity) or 40 cars (much more common), just about everyone is parking correctly (pictures here and here).
This leaves drivers able to pull forward with full visibility of the road and also of anyone using the new bike path that runs alongside Cheesecake Brook. It also means that each car’s trunk space is now easily accessible to field users, and parents of young children don’t need to catch and shepherd them around open car doors, but instead send them safely and directly to the sidewalk.
While it’s not easy to measure things like “less honking,” or “more relaxed users who have less fear and anxiety than before,” the fact is that those things are palpable nonetheless. As a city, we’re changing the culture and accessibility of Albemarle. Add to that the benefit that people can start to use the bike path instead of the sidewalk when biking, and pedestrians can breathe easier, too.
As you know, we saw the flex posts working very well at Albemarle and Crafts, so with those gone for the winter, we’re thankful to have the enhanced safety of back-in parking. We’re looking forward to having flex posts back in the spring, but also excited about the new RRFB (Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon) at Albemarle and Crafts, which is fantastic for pedestrian safety.
Thank you for your continued attention and support for community access at Albemarle. As great as we make it together, it must be safe to access.
Woohoo! We can cross the road! Albemarle and Crafts now has an RRFB (Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon). Cars slow down at the touch of a button. This makes it much safer to access Albemarle on foot. Thank you Newton DPW and Traffic Council!
It is working! Morning, noon and night….whether for weekday work or weekend meet-ups on the playground, the people of Newton are expertly back-in parking at Albemarle. This road never been safer or less anxiety-provoking than it is today. Thank you to the Newton DPW, Transportation Department, Neighborways Team and others who made it happen!
Look at all these cars back-in parking on Albemarle. Hooray!! This is the first time this road has been safe since it has perhaps existed (or at least in decades!).
Friends of Albemarle 