Town staff has filed an application with the Executive Office of Housing and Livable communities (EOHLC) to fund a planning grant for Naylor Court (the municipal parking area Court is a triangle bound by Summer, Nason, and Main Streets and well as Veterans’ Memorial Park).

Maynard Planning Director Bill Nemser said he expects if the grant is awarded, it will solidify an overall vision for the area that will incorporate previous smaller plans and initiatives as well as gathering new community input for the final design with a tentative name of “Naylor Court Commons”.  He pointed out that he is expecting a smaller but cohesive series of sub projects rather than one large project to result from the work.  Nemser believes this will ease in identifying funding sources and take advantage of resources as they become available

Due to its central location, Naylor Court is the connector between several downtown destinations including the Fine Arts Theater, Main Street and Nason Street businesses and the library. 

The increase in the number of residential units and in outdoor dining demand has pushed “activation” of Naylor Court to the forefront of Maynard’s economic development initiatives. Naylor Court represents an opportunity to support the mutually reinforcing objectives of economic and community development. 

With Maynard lacking a traditional New England “town common”, Naylor Court is well positioned to take up that mantle through a combination of targeted initiatives that can unlock a communal gathering place from its current configuration as an underutilized, and by some measure derelict, municipal parking area. Leveraging public and private funding at this location to enhance aesthetics, improve both pedestrian safety and vehicular circulation, plus facilitating safe and effective refuse collection will create an improved business environment for the entire Downtown. In short, these initiatives will foster Naylor Court a community amenity, thus completing the “inside” of our downtown triangle.

Nemser says some of the core goals of the Naylor Court efforts are to:

• Improve aesthetics and attractiveness
• Develop a safe and effective pedestrian circulation network to serve both businesses within Naylor Court and on adjacent streets
• Increase commercial viability of area properties
• Enhance Naylor Court as a “destination” to entice customers downtown
• Create a centralized and screened refuse collection location
• Expand cultural, recreational, and community activities

Since 2015 the Town has engaged in several strategic initiatives intended to capitalize on Naylor Court’s existing assets to create a new vision for the location. There are five key planning documents the Town has undertaken over a span of more than ten (10) years that detail the potential activation of Naylor Court at both micro and macro levels:

• Downtown Maynard – Peg Barringer (2014)
• Veterans Memorial Park Plan and Studies Report (2016)
• ULI Technical Assistance Panel Report (2019)
• Maynard Master Plan (2020)
• Naylor Court Place-Making Study (2021)

These documents provide context, public opinion polling/surveys and other public input data, as well as past presentations to the community. There have been some other proposals for redesigning parts of the area, but the above efforts were all officially undertaken by the Town with outside consultants.

The grant awards are expected to be announced late summer 2025.