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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOpen Space Comm. 06/14/2021Town of Mansfield Open Space & Recreation Committee June 14, 2021 Minutes �CEIVED ICE AA'kR I l P 2: 11 Present: Perry DiMascio, Chair; Rebecca Foster; Sharon Friedman; Katelyn Go, onservation and Environmental Planner. Also present: Colin Cauldwell, Natural Resources Trust and Katherine Nugent. 1. Meeting called to order at 6:06 pm. 2. Colin Cauldwell: Presenting the Canoe River Nature Heritage Trail Project. Mr. Cauldwell explained the scope of the work on town land off Mill Street, involving many Mansfield groups, is to improve this site and the trails to the Ephraim Leonard Cemetery, to preserve the cemetery, add informational signage at the site and the entrance on Mill Street, at no cost to the town. A new fencing system will be added around the cemetery. He said Natural Resource Trust (NRT) will do the signage and noted the Mansfield Historical Commission is very interested in the cemetery. He said the only viable entrance is off Mill Street with no parking and the right-of-way off Ephriam Drive will not be used as an entrance. Mr. Cauldwell said they know that Mr. Leonard had at least three wives and they are buried there and also there are unmarked stones designated as slave graves but they do not know how many there are. He said they have looked at records and there are potentially 10-14 slaves buried there and they will be using ground -penetrating radar to see how many graves are actually there. Mr. Cauldwell said Mr. Leonard was one of the founders of Mansfield and he was very important in getting the town designation because Mansfield was part of Norton at the time. He said this site is an important historical place that has been ignored over the years. He said the Conservation Commission voted unanimously to support the project. Mr. Cauldwell said there will be no parking on Mill Street and the right-of-way for Ephriam Drive will be used only when work is being done. He said the cemetery is historically relevant because it is the resting place of a prominent Mansfield family as well as 10-14 slaves; he said some of the stones have the names and ages of the slaves. He noted there will be no financial burden to the town. Ms. Foster asked who would be responsible for the upkeep of the trails once the work is done. Mr. Cauldwell said the work would be done by the Boy Scouts and they are also considering using the school system, perhaps the school teams. Ms. Gonyer said she and Mr. Cauldwell had walked the site and said her biggest concern was they would be creating a new trail system but once on site, she realized these trails are already established and their only interest now is to rehabilitate the site. Mr. Cauldwell said they are not developing a trail system, just taking care of the cemetery site and clearing and reestablishing the existing trails. Ms. Gonyer said there is a lot of invasive species at the site, primarily burning bush, but said it would be a great spot for some mitigation, possibly through a grant. Mr. Cauldwell said they want to preserve the cemetery and there 1 will be no trails between the houses on the right-of-way on Ephriam Drive. He said they will look into the parking if the response to the project is great. Ms. Gonyer said, because they are redoing Mill Street, they might have the ability to put in one or two parking spaces. Mr. Cauldwell said NRT will talk with the neighbors on Ephriam Drive. Ms. Friedman asked if the land was owned by the Conservation Commission. Mr. Cauldwell said the land it under the control of the Water Department and Conservation. Ms. Gonyer said in the new budget there is some money that would go to DPW for the upkeep of the trails and, because it is town -owned land, once the preservation is done, the maintenance of these trails should come under the purview of DPW. She said her concern is that once all the work is done and the maintenance is left to volunteers, we will have the same problems we have had with the Corporal Hardy area. She said the cemetery is of historic value and should be preserved. Mr. Cauldwell said it is a state law that gives the town the responsibility for all non-profit cemeteries within the bounds of the town that are not owned by churches or private cemeteries. Ms. Gonyer said she is not a fan of using volunteers and this area will be included in the Trail Maintenance Plan. She said it would be reasonable to ask for a commitment to maintain the site for the first two years. Mr. Cauldwell said Michael Trowbridge, Hutchins -Trowbridge Associates, will do the surveying for the Mill Street entrance as well as the Ephriam Drive right-of-way and all abutting neighbors have been notified. He said the Boy Scouts will do the trail work with help from NRT. Ms. Gonyer said on July 1, 2021 we will be able to use a $5,000 revolving budget but would first have to figure out the budget needs. She said there is also the potential for grants. Ms. Friedman asked if any of this property has been disturbed. Ms. Gonyer said there is some construction on the property probably by kids but dirt bikes are her biggest concern; she said "No Motorized Vehicles Allowed" signs have been made and will be added to this site. Ms. Friedman suggested they get in touch with the King Phillip Trail Riders Association, an off -road riding club. Mr. DiMascio said because this site will be entered into a registry, there will be other people who will be interested in the historic significance and want to visit the site. He asked if the parking signs could include a point person or department number. Mr. Cauldwell said they are going to pursue the Hartwell School site on Mill Street for parking. Ms. Gonyer said there would have to be a parking plan. Ms. Friedman made the motion to support the Canoe River Nature Trail Project. Ms. Foster seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0-0 at 6:45 pm. 3. Review of the annual Trail Management Plan: Ms. Gonyer introduced Katherine Nugent, her conservation intern for the summer. Ms. Nugent has a seventy -hour environmental study internship and she will be working with the GIS department to update the GIS app called ARC for field maps. Ms. Gonyer said they are collecting data for the trails and they will be looking at doing trail maps and aerials. They will be walking all six of the conservation properties and will include the Plymouth Street area, where they will be doing a new playground under a park grant, which Shaun Burke (Director of Planning and Development) is now working on. Ms. Gonyer said Ms. Nugent will be presenting this project in front of the Conservation Commission once they have gathered more data. Ms. Gonyer said part of the Trail Management Plan will include a trail assessment form. This form will have a dropdown tab so it can be filled out in the field so people will be able to report any concerns or safety issues on the sites; there will also be hardcopies. There will be a web page with all the information about the trails, kiosks, etc. Ms. Gonyer and Sacha Zlatkova (MIS) will put together the trail information at mansfieldma.com. Ms. Gonyer noted she is still waiting on the trails grant for the kiosk replacement and the information board. She said the trail maps will be done in house. Ms. Gonyer said she has been meeting with Mark Cook, DPW, once a month. She said a plan needs to be developed for the mowing at Great Woods. Mr. DiMascio asked if Ms. Gonyer had contacted Flint Farm to mow the fields for the hay. She said Mark Cook had mentioned this as a possible solution. She said when Ms. Nugent is doing her walk-through to do the trail maps she is also collecting data regarding trash receptacles, kiosks, vandalism, etc. She said she hopes to have a final draft of the Trail Management Plan this winter. She said this would be a good representation of what needs to be done and she will then be able to propose a bigger budget at the next town meeting. 4. Updating the Open Space Plan with the Master Plan: Ms. Friedman explained the beginning part of the Master Plan is basically the plan and what they would like to get to and the back part is what we have. Ms. Gonyer said what she would like to do is parallel the goals from the Open Space Plan with the Master Plan goals and how we want to present the information in the Open Space Plan. She asked if we should have a separate section that discusses the Master Plan process briefly and how they came about the information because the Open Space Plan is a community document. Ms. Gonyer said this information about the Master Plan should be put in Community Vision, Section 6. Ms. Friedman said her only question is do we need to have another community meeting to put together the Open Space Plan or is it good enough to just take the second chapter from the Master Plan and say the second chapter of the Master Plan suffices to be the pillar of the Open Space and Recreation Plan because the Master Plan is for the next ten years. Ms. Friedman said there is not going to be any new data to add to the Open Space Plan because it has already been done. Ms. Friedman asked where the plan is submitted. Ms. Gonyer said typically the plan is approved by the Division of Conservation (DCS). Ms. Gonyer said she would contact DCS and ask if we can legitimately develop a plan by pulling from the Master Plan and inserting it into the Open Space and Recreation Plan because otherwise we would have to hire someone to write the plan. Ms. Gonyer said we only have to update the goals and agreed with Ms. Friedman that this is the best way to do that and, if the board agrees, she will start the new 2023 draft, which is going to be the updating of all the demographics. She E said she might ask for a DLTA grant again to update the Open Space Plan. Ms. Friedman said the goals for the Open Space Plan are pretty clear. Mr. DiMascio read a document from the Town of Norton - "create and improve the access to the Canoe River and all water bodies" and said we tend to dismiss this. Ms. Friedman said this is Strategy #5. Ms. Friedman said during the meetings for the Master Plan there were a couple of things that had to be omitted and this was one of them, the walkability, the access ability and building the greenway. She noted the greenway is not in the old Open Space Plan and suggested adding the greenway to the new plan. Ms. Gonyer said she will send any questions to DCS to see if everything is acceptable and then will start converting the language into our format. We can then start looking at the draft in sections over the next two years; she said SRPEDD will do the demographics and she will look into writing a DLTA grant application. Ms. Friedman told Ms. Gonyer that Anna Callahan, Community Planner, Project Manager, is the person the Master Plan Committee worked with and she can provide more of the data that did not make it into the final Master Plan. Also, she could contact Jennifer Goldson, E.N. Goldson, LLC, founder and managing director of the project team. She should also check with Shaun Burke. Ms. Foster said it looks as if we have access to the rivers and water bodies so what is holding us back from having access for the community, why is this goal not happening. Ms. Gonyer said we do not have the access points at this time; she said there is a portage area, which is the only place we ever supported, at 888 South Main Street, where L. L. Bean used to put kayaks in the Norton Reservoir; she said this area was not used because people complained about the site, and there was no parking and the area had not really been developed. She mentioned a one -mile river walk was expanded off Taylor's Hill and the Ephraim Trail will also bring more access to trails for the Canoe River. Mr. DiMascio said he thought part of the charge of the OSRC was to help identify parcels, whether they were tax taken, donated or existing parcels, but he was told these parcels were not under our purview, it would be the Planning Board. The Committee will discuss river access and water bodies at the next meeting. Ms. Friedman said one of the things that is not in the Open Space Plan is the emergence of pocket parks. She said these are wonderful additions to attract people to the downtown area. She asked how do we look at the integration of Open Space and Recreation pieces with the continued development and how do they intersect with the other goals. She said this should be in the plan. Ms. Gonyer said for the next meeting Riverfront access will be an agenda item and she will put together a list of water fronts. Ms. Friedman said, because she is the representative from the Planning Board, she will tell them we will be using the Master Plan to write up the Open Space Plan, which is due in 2023, and facilitating the changes, requiring more resources to implement the components of the Master Plan. 5. Old Business: • Approval of April 5, 2021 minutes: Ms. Friedman made the motion to accept the minutes as printed with the one added edit, the misspelling of Mr. DiMascio's name. Ms. Foster seconded the motion. 2 Motion passed 3-0-0. 6. Adjourn: Ms. Friedman made the motion to adjourn at 7:45 pm. Ms. Foster seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0-0. Next meeting will be August 16, 2021 at 6:00 pm. Rebecca os r, Ch , 3-o-.-4-L Date