ZONING, TRANSPORTATION & ACCESS TO OPEN SPACE

HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVE NEAR THE PARK?

Residential neighborhoods border most of D.W. Field Park, with the exception of a large commercial and industrial block that hugs the lower third of the park’s west side. This area is home to the Westgate Mall and a number of large, auto-oriented businesses.

Brockton’s Master Plan, completed in 2017, proposes zoning and land use changes that aim to make the city more economically and environmentally sustainable. The 2017 plan proposes re-zoning the Westgate Mall area and the big box stores along Oak Street into a “High Density Mixed Use Zone.” It also introduces a number of “Neighborhood Commercial Corridors” and a Transit Oriented Development village on main streets within a mile of the park.

With the current zoning in Brockton and Avon, at least 8,000 households live within one mile of the park, and at least 3,500 households live within a half mile of the park. The proposed re-zoning in Brockton could result in development that would further increase the number of people living within a short walk (a half mile) of the park, likely increasing the number of regular users.

HOW DO PEOPLE GET TO THE PARK?

Despite the three bus lines with stops at or near the park, the vast majority of the 1424 respondents to the D. W. Field Park Initiative Community Survey drive to the park.

How People Get To The Park

Brockton has introduced bike lanes onto some roads in the city. Currently, the bike lanes are confined to downtown, though there are hopes to expand them outwards in the future.

Reducing car use within the park could be one strategy for increasing pedestrian and cyclist safety and improving water quality, but given the current car-centric nature of both the park and its surrounding areas, this may be a challenge.

Open Spaces In Brockton

Brockton has 1,545 acres of open space of three primary uses: recreation, conservation, and historic/cultural places.

841 acres (54.4%) of Brockton’s open space is dedicated to recreation. These areas include a golf course, two country clubs, the athletic fields for the high school and community college, and a number of playgrounds.

At 650 acres, D.W. Field Park comprises 55% of Brockton’s recreational open space, it is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is home to important habitat. It’s no wonder that the 2022 Open Space and Recreation Plan identifies the park as Brockton’s “most significant open space and recreational area” because of its size and unique combination of features (22).

Brockton also has 464 acres of conservation land distributed across five main properties. These sites provide a variety of important ecological services including natural flood storage and wetland habitat. In the past decade, Wildlands Trust has constructed four miles of trails through them, adding to the opportunities for passive recreation in the city.