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Workshop seeks input for environmental restoration projects at selected sites

Ice House Pond is one of two sites selected for green infrastructure improvements as part of the town’s Resilient Land Initiative. FILE PHOTO/JOHN CARDILLO

Hopkinton’s Resilient Land Initiative will take another step forward next week with a public meeting intended to help shape the designs for projects at Ice House Pond and Legacy Farms North.

[Editor’s note: this story has been revised to include the updated venue for the workshop.]

The town will lead a community design workshop next Wednesday from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Hopkinton Senior Center. Representatives from the initiative’s “core team,” including town representatives, residents and regional partners, will be in attendance to answer questions and collect community feedback.

The goal of the meeting, according to the event’s registration page, is to collect community input that will “help inform the final designs for nature-based green infrastructure solutions.”

“We’re asking the community to come and learn about the process we’ve gone on and what’s possible at these two sites,” said Ndemazea Fonkem, a climate resiliency planner with Siler Climate Consulting. Siler has partnered with the town on this initiative, which is being funded through a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Action Grant.

Each site has its own design options, Fonkem explained. At Ice House Pond on Main Street, there are opportunities to implement rain gardens, bioretention areas, flood plain restoration, water quality improvements and more, she noted.

At Legacy Farms North — which Fonkem said the town has identified as an environmental justice neighborhood — design ideas include natural reforestation, native habitat enhancement and trail connections.

Ideas generated from next week’s workshop will be handed off to BSC Group, an engineering firm that will create full mock-ups of the chosen designs. These will be presented to the community for review sometime this winter, according to Fonkem. She also stated that the hope for the designs is to have them be functional and ecologically restorative.

“They’re meant to be public usable spaces that have benefits for anybody who comes to visit,” she said. Fonkem added that the Resilient Land Initiative is “an integral part” of the town’s climate action plan and joins a broader conversation in Hopkinton over environmental concerns.

“It’s just part of a tapestry of projects … about how to enhance green infrastructure,” Fonkem remarked.

– NICK SCHOFIELD

Latest News

The Planning Board on Monday met with a representative from the Massachusetts Area Planning Council to discuss an economic development strategy that eventually will advance to the Select Board for approval.

At its meeting Monday night, the Commission on Disability agreed on plans to hold a public forum about a draft accessibility improvements plan developed in partnership with the DPW.

The latest Senior Snippets features information on the annual repair fair, a Frisbee dog performance and a painting class.

This week’s Schools Notebook highlights Hopkinton students named as semifinalists in this year’s National Merit Scholarship Program.

Town meetings tonight include the Housing Authority (6) and Trails Committee (7).

Photo of the Day

A detour sign left over from last month’s Main Street roadwork sits at the corner of Pleasant Street and Maple Street.

PHOTO/JERRY SPAR