Background Information
White Pond is a 43 acre kettle pond with a small watershed of approximately 350 acres in the southwest corner of Concord. This area of Concord was historically an agricultural area part of the Sudbury River Valley a major wildlife corridor and within 1,000 feet of Concord’s town wells, Jennie Dugan well which is protected by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and the Town Groundwater Conservancy.
White Pond is classified as a “great pond” by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The banks around the pond are high in gravel and sand making them permeable. The pond is a deep bowl with steep sandy banks prone to erosion. As an isolated kettle pond, the source of water is from groundwater, rain, snow, storm water run-off.
The land around the pond on the north and south is residential and is regulated by the town of Concord. On the eastern shore, there is a private beach with a parking lot where Concord residents can buy a summer pass for a reasonable fee to swim. Nearby is a small access road for fishermen and boaters. The western edge of the pond consisting of approximately one third of the shoreline is undeveloped and mostly owned by the town of Concord. There are three parcels of land: one parcel is known as Concord Conservation Land and is regulated by conservation bylaws prohibiting camping, fires, swimming, littering and alcohol. Another parcel is known as Reservation Land and was purchased by the town in 1992 from the Unisys Corporation. This land is not regulated by conservation bylaws and is adjacent to the conservation land and Sachem's Cove. The third parcel of land is private land owned by the Stone Root Lane Trust and abuts the properties on Stone Root Lane. All three parcels of land attract hundreds of swimmers whose activities, some illegal such as fires, littering and alcohol consumption result in the abuse of the pond and the surrounding watershed including trash, disturbing the peace and erosion of the fragile banks. There is no people management plan and no enforcement of existing conservation bylaws.
While White Pond has been a desirable place to swim since the Heath's Bridge connected this part of town to Concord Center, real estate development around White Pond began in 1931 with “Pine Knoll Shores” a private subdivision of very small lots of 2,500 square feet as summer camp sites for people in the greater Boston area. The narrow roads without sidewalks did not meet the standards of public streets and were classified as private ways which means that the residents of these streets are responsible for maintaining and funding all road repairs. White Pond became an even more popular place to swim as people build small summer homes some of which were later converted into year round homes. Over time, more year round homes were built since this area of town was affordable for many young families wanting to live in Concord. Thirteen of these small parcels are now owned by the town of Concord (ranging in size from 2,500 s.f. to 10,00 s.f. totaling approximately 70,000 square feet). These parcels along with the conservation and reservation land means that the Town of Concord is the largest landowner in the area. There are now about 158 houses within the White Pond watershed not including the town of Sudbury’s senior housing at Northwood and Frost Farm.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, parking by out of town swimmers on neighboring streets became a problem for residents since there is no public parking lot for people who want to swim on town owned land. Cars were parked along the narrow roads causing traffic congestion. A White Pond Advisory Committee (WPAC) was established in 1973 to review and analyze the concerns of the White Pond neighborhood.
In 1978, to solve the issue of parking, the Town of Concord passed a permit parking bylaw, Article 9, restricting parking in the White Pond neighborhoods to parking by permit only on all private roads and on Raymond Road which is a public way. This restricted parking has worked well for decades to significantly decrease the number of out of town cars in the White Pond area. Unfortunately, Alden Road, another nearby road was not included in the 1978 restriction and as a result, the cars and the swimmers returned increasing dramatically in number during the last five years due to the visibility of the pond on the internet through GPS, google maps, blogs, twitter and facebook.
Today these out of town visitors find free, parking and unrestricted swimming an attractive alternative to other places to swim. People can bring their dogs unleashed to swim with them. They can also bring alcohol. At night, they can make a bonfire and party.
White Pond is classified as a “great pond” by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The banks around the pond are high in gravel and sand making them permeable. The pond is a deep bowl with steep sandy banks prone to erosion. As an isolated kettle pond, the source of water is from groundwater, rain, snow, storm water run-off.
The land around the pond on the north and south is residential and is regulated by the town of Concord. On the eastern shore, there is a private beach with a parking lot where Concord residents can buy a summer pass for a reasonable fee to swim. Nearby is a small access road for fishermen and boaters. The western edge of the pond consisting of approximately one third of the shoreline is undeveloped and mostly owned by the town of Concord. There are three parcels of land: one parcel is known as Concord Conservation Land and is regulated by conservation bylaws prohibiting camping, fires, swimming, littering and alcohol. Another parcel is known as Reservation Land and was purchased by the town in 1992 from the Unisys Corporation. This land is not regulated by conservation bylaws and is adjacent to the conservation land and Sachem's Cove. The third parcel of land is private land owned by the Stone Root Lane Trust and abuts the properties on Stone Root Lane. All three parcels of land attract hundreds of swimmers whose activities, some illegal such as fires, littering and alcohol consumption result in the abuse of the pond and the surrounding watershed including trash, disturbing the peace and erosion of the fragile banks. There is no people management plan and no enforcement of existing conservation bylaws.
While White Pond has been a desirable place to swim since the Heath's Bridge connected this part of town to Concord Center, real estate development around White Pond began in 1931 with “Pine Knoll Shores” a private subdivision of very small lots of 2,500 square feet as summer camp sites for people in the greater Boston area. The narrow roads without sidewalks did not meet the standards of public streets and were classified as private ways which means that the residents of these streets are responsible for maintaining and funding all road repairs. White Pond became an even more popular place to swim as people build small summer homes some of which were later converted into year round homes. Over time, more year round homes were built since this area of town was affordable for many young families wanting to live in Concord. Thirteen of these small parcels are now owned by the town of Concord (ranging in size from 2,500 s.f. to 10,00 s.f. totaling approximately 70,000 square feet). These parcels along with the conservation and reservation land means that the Town of Concord is the largest landowner in the area. There are now about 158 houses within the White Pond watershed not including the town of Sudbury’s senior housing at Northwood and Frost Farm.
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, parking by out of town swimmers on neighboring streets became a problem for residents since there is no public parking lot for people who want to swim on town owned land. Cars were parked along the narrow roads causing traffic congestion. A White Pond Advisory Committee (WPAC) was established in 1973 to review and analyze the concerns of the White Pond neighborhood.
In 1978, to solve the issue of parking, the Town of Concord passed a permit parking bylaw, Article 9, restricting parking in the White Pond neighborhoods to parking by permit only on all private roads and on Raymond Road which is a public way. This restricted parking has worked well for decades to significantly decrease the number of out of town cars in the White Pond area. Unfortunately, Alden Road, another nearby road was not included in the 1978 restriction and as a result, the cars and the swimmers returned increasing dramatically in number during the last five years due to the visibility of the pond on the internet through GPS, google maps, blogs, twitter and facebook.
Today these out of town visitors find free, parking and unrestricted swimming an attractive alternative to other places to swim. People can bring their dogs unleashed to swim with them. They can also bring alcohol. At night, they can make a bonfire and party.