Summer Storms Leave Brookline Sanctuary 'Unsafe' For Visitors

Parks officials are asking people to stay away from Hall's Pond Sanctuary as crews repair the heavy damage left by a series of storms in Brookline.

The park, located at the rear of Amory Playground in Cottage Farms, has been closed for nearly five weeks as crews painstakingly dismantled and removed by hand nearly two-dozen trees downed by intense storms last month. Work was nearly completed two weeks ago when a sudden downpour flooded the pond and lifted the park's boardwalk off its piers.

Tree Warden Tom Brady said repairs to the 175 feet of damaged walkway could take another month. In the meantime, parks officials are having trouble keeping park users out of the five-acre sanctuary, which has been padlocked and marked with signs and yellow caution tape.

"People get frustrated and take down the signs," Brady said. "Then the next people come along and think it's closed with no explanation."

Brady said work on the boardwalk, which was lifted off its piers by water flooding into the pond from nearby Beacon Street earlier this month, has been slow to get started because of the state-mandated bidding process. He hoped to get a third bid for repairs by tomorrow, July 26, which could allow work to begin within a week.

Brady said crews will have to dismantle the boardwalk, inspect the piers to make sure they're structurally sound, and re-attach the walkway with modifications so it can withstand future floods. The work, which could last two to three weeks, is expected to cost around $10,000.

Until the work is completed, Brady said the boardwalk is "unsafe" for visitors.

Crews have already spent several weeks dismantling and removing more than 20 sanctuary trees damaged by an intense storm called a "macroburst" in June. Brady said that work had just wrapped up the Friday before the town was hit by a sudden downpour that flooded Beacon Street and caused minor damage to several buildings.

"It's been a long run for the sanctuary and the users," Brady said.