ROCKPORT — Rockport Common, a new community park on the 7.67 acre parcel on the corner of West Street and Route 1, is due to open with a ribbon cutting in Fall 2026. Between now and then, the former site of the old Rockport Elementary School, will undergo a slow and deliberate transformation with construction to begin in late winter.

"A lot of effort has gone into this," said Griff Lesher, a Rockport resident, who,  along with his wife, Linda, is a foundational force behind the community park.

"I'd like to think that 2026 is the year of fruition," he told the Rockport Select Board at its Dec. 8 regularly scheduled meeting. "We will build it and they will come. We truly hope we are going to build a great park for the town and we appreciate the Select Board's support in this effort."

Eamonn Hutton, a landscape architect with Tamden Landscape Architects, and Kathy Blaha, who is establishing the nonprofit that will manage the new park, also spoke to the Select Board, outlining the project's financial and planning status.

The very first conversations between the Lesher Foundation and the Town of Rockport took place in 2021 when the Leshers floated the new park idea. Those talks evolved into a public-private venture proposal that was approved by voters in June 2023 at annual town meeting. 

There, voters accepted (Yes: 606; No: 93) the Foundation's proposal to help make the former Rockport Elementary School site a permanent public park and recreation area. The proposal included a $3 million Lesher Foundation donation to get the project under way.

The Foundation also pledged in the same town meeting warrant article to give the town an additional $1 million for a municipal project that the town designated. The latter materialized with the $1 million donated to the construction of the new West Rockport Fire Station, which has since been built.

At the Dec. 8 Select Board meeting, Hutton and Blaha reviewed the park development timeline. 

"We are happy to present a community-supporter master plan and design for the park," said Hutton.

He outlined the project investments by the Lesher Foundation:

$2.5 million for architectural design and construction;

$3 million for park design and construction;

$1.5 million for a maintenance endowment; and

$2 million for an endowment for programming and events.

The plan is to invest the latter two endowments and draw 5 percent each from them annually ($75,000 and $100,000 respectively) to fund their purposes.

What was originally a $3.5 million gift from the Lesher Foundation has evolved into a $7 million gift.

The Select Board acknowledged those gifts, "amazing" and "generous" as they listened to Hutton.

Additionally, the Town of Rockport has applied for a $500,000 federal/state Land and Water Conservation grant to help with the park's construction.

The newly formed nonprofit Friends of Rockport Common is oversee the $2 million program endowment. Its mission is to also pursue grants and contributions to fund the park.

Construction is to begin in February/March 2026 on the field house, "with the park following behind it," pending planning board approval, and then a ribbon cutting is to take place in Fall 2026.

"Thank you for all the work, thought and care that has been put into this," said Board Chair Denise Munger. "And the extraordinary generosity. We are really excited about this project."