Masonville Cove Community Enhancement - Video and Lessons Learned
/SustainaMetrix led a process to document the experiences, outcomes and lessons learned from the first stages of community enhancements at Masonville Cove. Once a site of massive ship-breaking after World War II, the site is now a functioning tidal wetlands and nature center that is adjacent to a dredged material placement facility and port terminal. What may once have been inconceivable for this range of land use, the decision was community led. This was a decided vote to put dredged material placement "in my backyard." A video and summary document are attached that sheds some light into the process of transforming decision-making and reframing the dialogue about dredging. The results are based upon a wide range of contributions from many involved with the community enhancement at Masonville Cove. This group includes staff of Maryland Port Administration (MPA), Maryland Environmental Service (MES), The Brooklyn-Curtis Bay Coalition (BayBrook), The Living Classrooms Foundation (LCF), the National Aquarium in Baltimore (NAIB), EcoLogix and SustainaMetrix. While the content of the video and "Lessons Learned" document is focused on the to community enhancements at Masonville Cove, it is also intended to serve as a template for institutionalizing the participatory process applied to other initiatives as well. The intended audience for this document includes the Harbor Team, MPA, the community surrounding Masonville Cove, and other interested stakeholders, and working waterfronts around the world. The video provides the voices from the people involved while the document aims to identify, analyze, and translate lessons learned into good practices to inform and improve future project design and implementation of community enhancements. Nine topics are presented, beginning with brief narrative to provide context from the Masonville experience, and concluding with a bulleted list of lessons learned for a wider audience.
