“Passive recreation” emerged as the phrase of the night as about 60 people, many of them neighbors to the land in question, turned out for Monday evening’s charrette hosted by the Dudley Area Advisory Committee.

Representatives from environmental engineering firm Tighe and Bond as well as landscape design firm Gates, Leighton and Associates were on hand to guide the process as residents talked through their hopes and wants for the swatch of land bordering Dudley Pond and accessed primarily by Doran Road and Pond Drive. (See the map in the photos with this article).

The Dudley Area Advisory Committee, as per an article passed at the November 2010 Special Town Meeting, has been tasked with looking at five specific possibilities for the land: “Open space preservation, passive recreation use, septic treatment for any new structures on said land or for properties in the vicinity of said parcels of land, pond management, and construction of affordable housing.”

Much of the area is "Parks and Recreation Property" and some is simply designated "Town Properties," both of which could be used for a variety of purposes. Two parcels are specifically deeded and can be used as nothing other than recreational space.

All of these elements, and their various components, were up for discussion at Monday’s charrette.

The first order of business? Explain the meaning and purpose of a charrette to a crowd including only a handful of people who had even heard the word.

Ian Catlow, a representative with Tighe and Bond, explained that “charrette” (alternatively spelled, “charette”) comes from a French word meaning “cart.” It hearkens to a day when a charrette was rolled through the halls of French architectural institutes and students would respond to the call of “Charrette!” by placing their project plans on the cart for submission.

Its modern usage, Catlow said, is simply a design meeting during which information is shared, ideas are presented, and wants and needs are expressed. The goal is to take the “Tornado of information that we gather from you folks and, in turn, we try to provide some kind of expertise,” he explained.

The meeting began with a group gathered in the Town Building’s Large Hearing Room, which was ringed with various renderings of the 7.5 acres up for discussion as part of the charrette. Several attendees expressed concerns that separating the meeting into small groups – the format of a charrette – would serve only to “divide and conquer,” allowing groups to come to conflicting conclusions.

“The whole idea is to get everyone’s thoughts on paper,” said Don Leighton, of Gates, Leighton and Associates, in an effort to assure the crowd. “We’re really going to get into the nitty-gritty of what can go into the site. Our task is to keep track of everyone’s thoughts and ideas, put them on paper, put them in a report.”

With that assurance, the 60 or so people broke into six groups of about 10 individuals each. Each group received renderings of the site, tracing paper and Sharpies. Representatives from each of the firms, as well as representatives from the Dudley Area Advisory Committee (which is comprised of members representing several other town boards) sat in with the groups, offering opinions and assistance as needed.

When the large group reconvened about 60 minutes later, each small group took to the front of the room to present its main points, and open space, passive recreation and caring for Dudley Pond emerged as top priorities.

“It’s pretty much a do-nothing plan,” said the presenter from the first group. That group’s priorities were to maintain an open area that also addresses septic issues, provide recreational space and, lastly, to control the population density in that already highly-populated area of Cochituate Village.

Jean Milburn presented Group 2’s thoughts, which closely mirrored those of other groups.

“The general sense of the group is that they like it as open space with passive recreation,” Milburn said. “Enhancement will result in heavier use and heavier use will result in degradation. Most of the group seemed to view the land as quite fragile and not able to bear more traffic than it’s currently getting.”

Adding tended trashcans to Rocky Point was mentioned as a positive addition to the site, though the rest of the area “should be protected and kept as natural as possible,” Milburn said.

Groups also mentioned creating trails through the area that connect to other trails and spaces in Cochituate, including Wayland Middle School and Dudley Woods. At least one group would like to see trails added only as raised boardwalks in order to protect the ground below.

Stan Ducharme, Group 3’s presenter, summed up his group’s discussion, which, again, closely aligned with the other groups: “Passive recreation was our main theme. We talked about sort of leaving the land as it is and putting in some walking trails.”

While a few individuals expressed interest in housing, none of the groups as a whole were pleased with the idea of building on the site.

“You had different opinions, you agreed to disagree,” Leighton said in closing. “That’s what this process was all about. One of the bigger challenges is that there’s a desire to let the site help the quality of the pond.”

Another charrette, this one with a focus on water resources, is tentatively scheduled for July 26.