WCAC

 

 

After years of environmental hearings, the Woerd Avenue landfill / Jack Koutoujian Playground project appears to be moving forward. 

Proposed dog parks and a “chipping range” have been scrapped, but a new skate park (shown below) and much-needed parking are still in the works for the South Side park.

As soon as the bid process and funding approval wrap up, the project can move to construction.

Current Plan

The Woerd Avenue Landfill Revitalization Project involves the capping of a former dump and improvements to the adjacent Jack Koutoujian Playground.

The run-down area, shown above, is badly in need of an overhaul.

Plans include a new skateboard park, tennis/pickleball courts, basketball courts, ADA accessible walking paths, a new playground/fitness area and a new parking lot (currently there is no public parking).

The majority of the project, or roughly 9 acres of the 11-acre parcel, involves capping a former dump, which the city covered with clean fill in 1973. 

In its current condition (as shown above), it fails to meet current environmental guidelines for solid waste containment.

Over the last few years, project officials have worked with local, state and federal environmental regulators to devise an approved cap. 

Trees growing on the existing, non-compliant landfill must be removed, and no new trees can replace them, as their roots could compromise the containment of landfill waste.

But the current plans do include new pollinator gardens.

Earlier Plans

Dog owners regularly use the park, so there was excitement about the possibility of two dog parks atop the landfill in plans dating back to 2022 (in beige in site plan below).

But Cathyann Harris, the city councilor for Ward 8, said the prospect of dogs digging in the environmentally sensitive cap disqualified the dog parks.

Instead city recreation officials considered a golf chipping range with artificial turf—a kind of small-scale driving range shown in orange in the image below.

But it too is no longer included in the plans. Councilor Harris said the area where the chipping range was proposed has been replaced by green space open to park users. 

Timeline

The City of Waltham has received more than $4 million in federal funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the project.

Recently eleven potential bidders walked the site. 

Starting on December 16, those prospective contractors can bid on work outlined in city purchasing department documents.

 

As soon as a successful bidder is chosen, Mayor Jeannette McCarthy can request additional funding from the city council. 

Construction is estimated to take 18 months, meaning the project could wrap up in mid to late 2027.

File photos