Lopez Avenue / Charles Street Pocket Park

• What's Happening Now
• Project Background
• Resources
• For More Information

What's Happening Now

Construction on the new park area at Lopez Avenue and Charles Street is expected to begin in June, 2008. This new park area will include community gardening plots, benches and tables, a new public art piece, new plantings, and a community news kiosk. In order to connect this new park area to the existing Costa Lopez Taylor park, the end of Lopez Avenue will be discontinued, and there will no longer be direct vehicular access to Charles Street. Construction is expected to last between three and six months.

The design plan for the new park can be downloaded for viewing below. The plan was developed by Community Development Department staff with input from the East Cambridge community. Thanks to all of the community members whose comments and suggestions have helped to shape the design. This file is in PDF format and requires use of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer.

• Design Drawing – January 2008 (1.2 MB)

Below is some important information regarding the plan to discontinue the end of Lopez Avenue:

• The Fire Department has reviewed the plan and has approved that it will be suitable for emergency vehicle access.
• On-street parking on Lopez Avenue will be shifted to the western side of the street (alongside the existing park). Since there are no curb cuts on that side of the street, this will result in additional space for parking and less chance for conflicts with driveway entrances.
• All new on-street parking on Charles Street and Lopez Avenue will be designated “Resident Permit Parking Only”.
• According to the Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department, the plan will result in a loss of about 3 on-street parking spaces on Lopez Avenue and a gain of about 4 or 5 parking spaces on Charles Street, resulting in no significant change to parking availability.
• There will be a 20-foot “No Parking Zone” at the end of Lopez Avenue to facilitate cars turning around, and to allow emergency vehicle access to the new fire lane.
• The Cambridge City Council officially approved the street discontinuance plan on May 12, 2008.

The following is a list of some of the changes that were made in response to neighborhood feedback:

• A pedestrian entry from Charles Street to the new seating alcove has been added.
• The community news kiosk has been moved from inside the garden area to just outside of the seating alcove, to be visible to all park users.
• Additional raised gardening plots have been placed between the garden area and the seating alcove, moderately expanding the community gardening space and integrating it more closely with the seating alcove without significantly reducing the amount of seating area.
• The swinging bench and arbor have been relocated nearer to the entrance to the garden area, to distance them from the abutting houses and to make them more accessible to all park users. Additional benches for sitting within the garden area still remain.
• A second bench has been added along the main walkway to provide additional seating and to better define the pathway between the park areas.

• December 15, 2007 Meeting Flyer
• Preliminary Design Drawing – Plan View
• Presentation Board 1 (226 KB)
• Presentation Board 2 (162 KB)
• Presentation Board 3 (225 KB)
• Design Drawing – January 2008 (1.2 MB)