Gerow Park opening marks end of years-long project

For years, residents walking or biking along the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail have watched Gerow Park take shape.

Tomorrow, they can celebrate its official opening.

The festivities, scheduled for noon-2 p.m. Friday, made the calendar nearly eight years after the town purchased the roughly 7-acre property at 369 Commonwealth Avenue from the Gerow family with plans to preserve it as public open space rather than allow residential development.

Concordian Sepi Hashemi said she’s enjoying the recreation area.

“The park is beautiful, and we appreciate that it didn’t become a giant concrete lot or anything like that,” she told The Acton Bridge as she walked her dog Archie through Gerow Park on Monday. “It’s just perfect.” 

The new park features walking paths, a timber pavilion, parking, restrooms, and scenic views of Warner’s Pond alongside the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. 

‘Declare victory’

Although visitors have already begun enjoying the park, town officials say Friday’s ceremony will be a chance to celebrate a project that weathered years of challenges. 

“I think, in all these things, the best thing to do is just ‘declare victory,’” Select Board member Mary Hartman said. “It was a long process, but look at what we finally did, and it’s something that we can be proud of now.”

Nancy Gerow Sumski, whose family owned the land for decades, said the opening represents something more personal.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It really is. It’s a beautiful, beautiful spot, and they’ve done a fabulous job. It was a long time in the making. … We couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Sumski said her family’s ties to the property stretch back to about 1950, when her grandfather, chief engineer at MCI-Acton, bought the land from the railroad. He hoped to build a home there after retirement, but died before he could realize his dream. 

Instead, Sumski’s parents, Ralph and Ruth Gerow, spent three years building the Cape-style home overlooking Warner’s Pond where she grew up.

“I learned how to fish, canoe, and ice skate,” Sumski said. “It was great.”

The house stood in what is now the open lawn facing the pond.

“Nobody ever really knew the house was there,” she said. “It’s been called a hidden gem, and it certainly was.”

After Sumski’s mother died, the town approached the family about buying the property. Though the land could have been divided into seven housing lots, the family agreed to sell it to the town for slightly less than its appraised value so it could be open to the public as a park bearing the Gerow name.

“We chose to take a little bit under the offer and have it be a park to remain in my family’s name,” Sumski said.

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A bumpy road

Hartman said the purchase sparked a larger debate about how the property should be used. Some residents advocated preserving it as recreation and open space. Others pushed for affordable housing. The town ultimately reached a compromise by creating the park and including one affordable housing unit on the site.

Acton bought the Gerow property in 2018 for about $2.7 million and originally budgeted just over $1.7 million for park planning and development, including building restrooms and a pavilion.

Construction began in 2021. The project quickly ran into trouble.

The Covid-19 pandemic drove up construction costs, and disputes between the town and the primary contractor over increased expenses brought work to a standstill. New trees and plantings died while the project sat unfinished.

With change orders and amendments to the project scope, including new park benches and tables, according to town officials, the overall cost exceeded $4.9 million by the time the work was complete.

Hartman said responsibility for the Gerow project wasn’t claimed by a single government body during the delays. “It kind of fell through the cracks,” she said.

Despite the setbacks, Hartman believes the result was worth the wait. 

“It’s a beautiful spot,” she said. 

Town Manager Kerry Lafleur said she picked up oversight of the Gerow project from former Assistant Town Manager Kate Hodges. Lafleur attributed the delays to an inexperienced contractor. 

“They bid based on pre-Covid prices and expected they could just adjust to make up for the inflation that occurred or substitute materials based on availability,” she said. “Municipal contracting just isn’t that flexible.”

For Sumski, seeing families walk the trails and pause along the water has transformed a place once known only to her family into an oasis for the entire community.

“I hope they come often,” she said. “It’s just a very beautiful, peaceful spot as it always was, but now many more people can enjoy it.”

Sumski said she hopes visitors appreciate the natural beauty, despite the delays.

“There were trials and tribulations throughout the building process,” she said, “but it’s so worth it.”