Medford Conservation Commission Approves Redesigned, Smaller MacDonald Park Playground

MEDFORD -- January 20, 2021, Medford Conservation Commission unanimously approves amended and extended wetlands order for DCR's MacDonald Park playground redesign. The commission voted 5-0 at its January 20 remote meeting to issue both an amendment and a three-year extension to a 2016 order of conditions covering Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation improvements at MacDonald Park along the Mystic River, DEP File 215-0206. The revised playground design, presented by Lauren Gluck of POWER Corporation, shrinks the approved footprint from 1.4 acres to approximately 0.78 acres, eliminates all work within the 25-foot and 100-foot wetland buffer zones, and adds a new rain garden to manage stormwater runoff toward an adjacent isolated wetland. Ruth Helfeld, DCR's director of landscape architecture, credited a newly hired agency playground specialist with driving the redesign, citing improved play value, better supervision sightlines, and lower cost. The original five-year order term, unusual under Massachusetts wetlands regulations, was confirmed as valid under 310 CMR 10.05(6)(d), which allows orders up to five years under documented special circumstances; in this case, a concurrent invasive species control program. DCR projects construction funding will be available beginning July 1, 2021.