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Vol. 4, No. 1
January 7, 2003
Contents |
Dolan Pond News |
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Contents | Dolan Pond News | Home
Happy New Year and welcome to the Dolan Pond News, an email publication of Friends of Dolan Pond, a local organization that promotes the protection and preservation of the Dolan Pond Conservation Area in West Newton, MA. Please visit our website at www.dolanpond.org. This is a short issue but it's interesting to note that this is our fourth year of publication.
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The Community Development Block Grant Committee for West Newton will be meeting this evening, Tuesday, January 7, at the Newton Community Service Center (492 Waltham Street). The meeting will begin promptly at 7:00 PM and will be held in the Adult Day Care Room. This room is most easily reached from the left-most entrance near the auditorium. It is the first room down the hall on the right (opposite the auditorium).
CDBG funding is being used for the current Dolan Pond improvement project. Dee Spiro will give an update on this project. The agenda for the meeting includes Dolan Pond Improvements, Franklin School Tot lot Improvements, Ryan Park Improvements, and River Street Playground. For questions about the meeting or the agenda, please contact Dee Spiro, CD Senior Planner, at 617-796-1125 or at dsprio@ci.newton.ma.us.
The Advisory Committee is seeking new members who live in the West Newton CDBG Target area. If you are near Dolan Pond you may be eligible to become a member. In any event you are always welcome to attend these meetings as an interested citizen. Come by if you can.
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The Dolan Pond Improvement project has been over budget mainly due to the cost of the metal supports (helical piers) for the boardwalk. As you may know, many more extensions were required due to reach solid ground underneath the path. Funds including some from a planned project for the West Parish Burying Ground had to be reallocated to meet the shortfall in this ongoing project. The current allocation in this funding cycle has grown to $200,340 from the original estimate of $150,000 (still a far cry from Big Dig overruns!).
The good news is that substantial progress has been made on the project. The bridge over Banana Pond is in place, enabling through traffic from the Webster Path to the Cumberland and Auburndale Paths. The stabilized soil on Webster Path will have to await spring. The boardwalk has at least had the Trex boards put in place so that it is now possible to traverse the Dolan Pond area. The boardwalk still needs the low curbs to be mounted over most of its length. Some small sections of curbing have been installed.
Completion of some of the remaining elements will likely await spring. The current hope is to have everything done in time for a grand opening at the end of April during CDBG Week. This project may be one of highlighted CDBG projects in Newton for this year. Normally openings are done in mid-week, but the city might possibly consider having the opening ceremony on a weekend if there were compelling reasons. If the ceremony were held midweek, hopefully it would be near the end of the workday when local residents could attend. We would appreciate feedback on your thoughts on this topic. Friend of Dolan Pond may be scheduling a meeting at some time over the next month or two to discuss this and other topics.
The next issue will report on discussions at the CDBG meeting above and other questions and concerns that have been raised (e.g. railings). In the meantime, take a walk at Dolan Pond. Try some ice skating. Watch for animal tracks (especially coyotes) in the new fallen snow. Enjoy this great natural area in Newton!
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Friends of Dolan Pond is a loose organization that has a website, www.dolanpond.org and an email address, "dolapond@aol.com". If you are interested in the organization, please contact Ted Kuklinski at 617-969-6222, write to Friends of Dolan Pond, 24 Henshaw Terrace, West Newton, MA 02465, or send email to info@dolanpond.org. If you wish to be removed from this list, simply reply to this email with the word remove in the subject or body of the reply.
This newsletter is primarily published and distributed by email. If you wish to receive the newsletter or request to discontinue receiving the newsletter by email, please contact us as above. It is also posted in paper form on clipboards at the major entrances to the area. If you have any information, material, photos, poems, writings, etc. concerning Dolan Pond that you would like to share, please send them along. Please forward the email version along to anyone you know who might be interested in receiving it or ask them to send us an email to join our subscription list. Hope to see you at Dolan Pond soon!
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Contents | Dolan Pond News | Home
Hope to see you at Dolan Pond soon!