The decades-long process of reclaiming the Neponset River and its waterfront for public use is nearing another milestone moment. Last week, in the climatic rush of the legislative session, several key funding items that will impact the Neponset made it through both the House and Senate.
As the Reporter’s Gintautas Dumcius first reported last week, at least $7 million was added to an environmental bond bill to pay for the clean-up of an 11 acre site in Port Norfolk, located on the waterfront next to what is now the end of the multi-use Neponset Greenway trail. Formerly home to a paper mill and other industrial uses, the Commonwealth took the land by eminent domain in 1986. Since that land-taking, the site has since been formally designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, giving it specific protection from development. Back in the late 1990s, a series of community meetings were held to create a plan of action to restore the site to its natural setting. But, no funding was made available to fulfill those dreams.
Maria Lyons, a neighbor who has helped to lead the effort to restore the waterfront near her home, told the Reporter last year that a passive park – which will allow the natural coastline to reclaim the land that centuries of industry commandeered — is what she and others want there. Currently, the space is largely walled off by chain-link fences and has been used as a storage site for state equipment.
“Basically, we feel like it’s the only wild lands left on the Dorchester side of the river. It supports bird nesting and shellfish and all kinds of species.
“We’d like to protect that for the children,” Lyons said.
The state funds inserted into the bond bill last week would pay for the clean-up of the 11 acres – which has been found to contain low-levels of PCBs and other contaminants left over from its industrial days. Luckily, recent tests have shown that the level of waste in the ground is not insurmountable and enough funds may be available from this bond funding to return this space to public use within a matter of a few short years.
Port Norfolk has waited patiently for this moment, watching as the 72 acre Pope John Paul II Park (1998) and the Neponset II park (2006) took shape and blossomed upstream. Now, the state seems poised to finally follow through on a promise made long ago.
