Quincy’s Updated Open Space Plan Means Better Maintenance and Diversification of the City’s Recreational Spaces

A Quincy man expressed concerns regarding the absence of plans for a new skate park in the city’s updated Open Space and Recreation Plan at the Planning Board hearing recently, insisting that though the mayor had allegedly approved a construction bid, the plans were being kept under wraps. 

“No one knows about it,” said Jeff Burke, a skate park advocate who said he worked with the city to get these plans approved. At the hearing, he explained to the Planning Board that a winning bid to break ground for the new skate park had already been awarded to a construction company, and the only missing piece to the puzzle was funding from the city, something he said the mayor, councilors and Parks Department had promised.

“All I’m saying is, I didn’t see it in the goals [of the updated plan], and I was a little worried,” Burke said. 

Burke explained that he’s a lifelong skateboarder, so when he and his wife moved to Quincy he quickly realized he needed somewhere local to skate. Cities and towns all over the South Shore have been closing down skate parks for various reasons, and the few that are still accessible to the public are in poor condition. 

“As a skateboarder, when you take away the only skate park in town, it stirs up some feelings,” Burke said after the meeting. “I was like, ‘I need a place to skate,’ so I started harassing the Parks Department.” 

Burke’s efforts did not go unnoticed. David Murphy, director of Quincy’s Parks and Forestry Department, confirmed what Burke was saying and explained that he had spoken to the mayor, Thomas Koch, earlier that day. 

 “I reminded him of the promise he made,” Murphy said. “The skate park will be on the next council agenda.” 

In addition to a new skate park, the city’s updated Open Space and Recreation Plan calls for various improvements to existing public spaces as well as the development of new ones— upgraded parks, better maintained hiking trails, safer public access to waterfront areas and a new dog park for the city. 

“With the last update, we felt we needed to boost recreation components because the city does a lot with its programming,” said Robert Stevens, deputy planning director. “But with this [plan] we’ve moved more into the climate change and preservation area.”

The city of Quincy has employed a private company, the BSC Group, in developing and executing the updated plan, which comes with a seven year timeframe. Heather Gould, director of planning for BSC, wants to use the plan to support sustainability and resilience to climate change while also treating these open spaces as experiential classrooms for Quincy’s population.

“There’s an educational component to it, whether it’s grandparents taking kids to a playground, enjoying a beach or hiking a trail,” Gould said. “As the city evolves, plans and open spaces need to evolve with it.” 

Quincy’s population is as diverse as its landscape— the city of nearly 100,000 people is made up of suburban neighborhoods, 27 miles of coastline, multiple flowing bodies of water and a large chunk of the 7,000 acre Blue Hills Reservation, the largest tract of open space in the Metropolitan Boston Area. The city’s demographics are constantly shifting, attracting everyone from millennial professionals from the Metro Boston Area to older immigrants from all over the globe, which makes up 31% of its population. 

“Walking in a park is free,” Stevens said. “Everything seems to cost money now, and to be able to provide free recreation— walking in a park, hiking on a trail, swinging on a swing or even skating on a skateboard— I think that’s in high demand right now.”

“Most of the natural coastline of Quincy is bogs and marshlands, which is not necessarily conducive to human recreation,” said Christian Bragdon. After the meeting, Bragdon explained that he and his wife recently moved to Quincy and attended the meeting to learn more about the coming changes. “So I guess the emphasis of the plan not to develop those lands into a competing space for recreation, but to focus on those other beaches, because going for a hike in a bog is what it is.” 

The Open Space and Recreation Plan update has been approved through 2025 and includes a detailed action-plan with specific high, medium and low priority actions. 

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the Planning Board and BSC for all their work on this,” Murphy said. “This plan is a great blueprint for us to move forward.”