In 2022, Waltham Mayor Jeanette McCarthy unveiled a major development plan for the site of the Fernald State School which included an extensive recreational facility spanning across the northern portion of the Fernald campus. Although this development has been in the works since the city purchased the land in 2014, there has been little progress made on the site. With the lack of maintenance, there has been an uptick in vandalism in recent years and the city of Waltham has been unable to keep it under control. There has also been a lack of transparency from the city about the progress of the development program.

After acquiring the property in 2014, it was taken over and directly maintained by the state of Massachusetts. Originally, all of the condemned buildings had been protected and fenced off.

Bryan Parcival, a photographer contracted by the city to take photos for the recordation process, was hired directly after the purchase of the Fernald. In a Sept. 20 interview with The Justice, Parcival said he was unable to begin working until nearly five years later due to a delay in greenlighting his contract and that the property was already in bad shape by the time he and his team were able to start.

According to Parcival, “One of the first things Waltham did was fire the groundskeeper. All of the maintained grounds by the time I came back had been overgrowing for nearly five years. Buildings were falling into disrepair, Waltham had one city employee who would occasionally board things up.”

Although the city has begun construction on the site, it has been a slow process. As the site remains in the early stages of development, there has been an increase in vandalism on the lot, and Waltham residents have expressed concern with the present and future of the project.

Since the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, vandalism at the site has been on the rise, as many of the buildings remain abandoned and deteriorating.

“There was vandalism, certainly, between 2015 and 2019, no question about that - but not massive. The massive vandalism happened in 2020 and that was directly coincidental with [Covid-19],” said Parcival. “A lot of kids were home from school and had nothing better to do than to show up with baseball bats and just smash things over at Fernald.” 

This is an ongoing issue. Early this year, it was reported that graffiti featuring markings of Neo-Nazi groups had been discovered on the walls of one of the buildings, raising flags from concerned community members.

In a Press Release in response to this discovery, the Waltham Police Department made it known that they were aware of the issue, and they have officers who frequently patrol the area. 

“In the past eighteen months Waltham officers have arrested or taken out charges against over fifty individuals who have been located at or identified as having crimes at the property” the press release stated. “According to our federal law enforcement partners, at this time, there are no known organized hate groups operating in the area.”

The hate group related investigation is not the only investigation regarding the Fernald in the past year, it was reported that a federal investigation was to take place regarding a possibility of breach of documents that had been abandoned in buildings on the property. In March, the state sent out a statement regarding an investigation of a major Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violation in connection to improperly stored documents discovered in improperly secured buildings at the site of the Fernald.

More recently, on Sept. 9, Waltham City Council held a meeting in which the Mayor approved proposals for the repurpose of three buildings on the Fernald property. These proposals include turning Dolan Hall into assisted and affordable housing for veterans, North Building becoming an adult daycare facility for adults with intellectual developmental disabilities, and the North Nurses Building to become Americans with Disabilities Act compliant housing for people with disabilities and their families. These proposals are extensive and do not fall within the original pitch of a large recreational facility that included playgrounds, a skating rink and sports fields.

Parcival believes that turning the site into a recreational center without any memorialization for the victims of abuse would be a gross mishandling of the property. “They’re building an amusement park there, which is tone deaf considering the site's history,” he said. “Waltham bears horrible burdens of responsibility when it comes to the absolutely aggressive neglect of Fernald and I can't help but speculate that it's intentional.”

The future of Fernald still remains incredibly uncertain, however, the city continues to make progress in developing the many acres of land.

The city has not provided The Justice with a statement about the future of the Fernald Development Program at this time.