MCI Concord Committee Debates 900-Unit Housing Target, Site Access Gaps

CARLISLE — June 25, 2026 — Concord's MCI Master Plan Committee raised sharp concerns about density, traffic access, and affordability targets for the redevelopment of the former MCI Concord prison site at its June 25 meeting. Housing Foundation representative Matt Johnson presented a strategy paper projecting that a 900-unit, 20-percent-affordable development at the MCI-Junction Village site would produce roughly 150 affordable and 550 attainable units, meeting an estimated 87 to 90 percent of the Affordable Housing Trust's five-year goal of 200 incremental affordable units — while growing the town's housing stock by approximately 23 percent. Co-Chair Wendy Ravelli, who also chairs the Select Board, warned that framing the growth as a "25 percent increase in five years" would face serious resistance at town meeting, and Johnson acknowledged the projection runs through 2032 or 2033. The committee's most urgent finding: a MassDOT project manager privately indicated a proposed Route 2 curb cut giving the site a second vehicle entrance "probably will never happen," leaving a development of up to 900 units dependent on a single access road on Commonwealth Avenue — a situation member Erin called "irresponsible." Two new members, Jeff Adams and Peter Lowe, were seated after being appointed by the Select Board earlier in the week to fill vacancies created by the resignations of John Boynton and Matt Johnson.