Proponents say that it will provide much-needed water access, a generous gift to the people of Mathews County that can be turned into a showplace park for the entire community.

Neighbors and others are concerned that the park may attract traffic, littering, loitering and other problems that could crop up once the residential property is opened up for public use.

It’s time for these hopes and concerns to be aired in a public setting.

The Middle Peninsula Public Access Authority, the agency that has been given title to the 10-acre site of the future Mathews Heritage Park in Moon, should hold a forum to lay out all the plans for its development, address the concerns of neighbors and allow everyone to have a say in what is to go on in that neighborhood.

Both sides in this issue have compelling arguments. Public access to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries is relatively limited in Mathews, considering the fact that the county is a peninsula surrounded by water. A park would gi...