Kids & Family
Concord Point Expansion Starts to Take Shape
The city's newest waterfront park provides open space for extending the Promenade.
A new addition to Concord Point Park recently opened to the public.
The city of Havre de Grace announced that 701 Concord Street was open to citizens a little more than a year after voters approved the purchase of the property by referendum.
"Break out the picnic baskets," Mayor Wayne Dougherty said before cutting the ribbon on June 7. "I now declare this park open for public use."
Dougherty said the plan was to provide more open space on the waterfront for citizens to enjoy, and renderings were posted at the park to show what was planned.
The idea is to extend the Promenade by more than 400 feet, extending it along the water and then wrapping it around to meet the sidewalk on Concord Street, according to John Van Gilder, spokesman for the city of Havre de Grace.
"Benches will be on the water side" of the sidewalk, Van Gilder noted; other than that, the benches, lighting and signature sidewalks will be identical to the ones by the lighthouse.
A $35,000 grant from the state and the Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway is funding the engineering, and the city of Havre de Grace has applied for an additional $100,000 from the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority toward construction, according to County Councilwoman Mary Ann Lisanti.
The city will find out in July whether the grant is available and construction could get started as early as fall, according to Lisanti.
At present, the space is open to the public.
Looking around the newly opened park, Lisanti said: "What a spectacular project—to go from a house being here to the city negotiating it, [to] going on the ballot, [and] a year later, here we are," Lisanti said. "It might not be perfect, but it's here, and it's forever."
The newly opened space in Concord Point Park is located to the left of Concord Point Lighthouse (if facing the lighthouse) at 701 Concord St. Dogs are not permitted.
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