Open Space MinutesApril 12, 2023
The Open Space Committee met remotely as posted. Following members were present: Michael Toohill, Ana Lockwood, Eric Hinds, and Mary Wilson
I. The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:32pm
II. Minutes: Review & Approve 9/8/22 and 2/8/23 
No vote could be taken on Meeting Minutes, as they have not yet been distributed. 
The Chairman will distribute to members via email afterwards. 
Mary Wilson volunteered to take Meeting Minutes for this evening. 
III. Discussion – Parmenter Road, Reservoir Road parcels 
The Chairman advocated a preference for the -0- Reservoir Rd over 51 Parmenter Rd. for public access. The Chairmen has met twice with Town Council & talked to the Town Manager. The town is still doing background research on the Reservoir Rd parcel and there are no updates on the research. The research has to do with clearing the title.  
The Chairman went on a site visit along with some neighbors, primarily at Parmenter Rd. Walked both parcels. 
The Chairman asked if attending members had done site walks on the parcels, and or, were familiar with the parcels. All attending members confirmed.  
The Chairman commented that the Reservoir Rd parcel holds a lot of promise: it is a large parcel, opportunity for many park spaces, enough space to afford the opportunity for picnic tables, minimal neighbor concerns, and a lot of lake cove frontage with would allow numerous opportunities for lake access. 
The Chairman is not as compelled by the opportunity of Parmenter for lake access. There are numerous challenges at Parmenter: relatively steep slope, at a difficult intersection, existing docks confining access, neighbor animosity. The Chairman acknowledge that there were 2 routes down the slope to the water. 
Ana Lockwood stated that she did not believe there was a reason to choose one over the other. Ana pointed out that the Parmenter parcel is town land and therefore accessible to the public now. People can go use that land now to access the lake, unless the town has reason to section-off access at that parcel. Sooner or later, people will begin to use that property. She recommended that it would be better for the town to have an access plan to ensure safe access for the public and reduce nuisance to neighbors.  The alternative would be that people start using the land as-is, without parking controls, which would create a nuisance situation. Ana advocated that there are many good reasons for the town to have a strategy for the property vs allowing unmanaged usage. Ana recommends that we follow through with the process specific to Parmenter.  Ana acknowledged that her other responsibilities as Parks Commission Chair and particularly the Marshall Park project have her bandwidth consumed for the next stretch of time. The Lake Shirley access is not her top priority, but she advocated that it stay on the list of routine topics. 
Mary Wilson commented that she also believed the desired outcome was not to choose one parcel over the other, but to construct an optimum strategy for both. The goal of the strategies was to reduce opportunities for chaos with public lake access and people just randomly parking. The Reservoir road parcel holds a lot of opportunity. It is a relatively large parcel. There is a lot of opportunity for parking and good lake access. The parcel is out of the way, so wouldn’t interfere with traffic. Maybe Parmenter might be a sooner access as the title is clear. If people just started accessing Parmenter and parking in that corner, it could quickly become a problem. Particularly that we may not be able to have clear title for the Reservoir Rd parcel immediately.
The Chairman commented on the Reservoir Rd parcel is interesting due to the abutters. There is an abutter that has paved a couple of parking areas on the town land, across from his house. There is actually parking you can get maybe 5-6 cars in there with direct access down to the lake. The Chairman also stated that he is not recommending that we use that parking now. Between that and the old easement area, that runs around the corner away from the houses, there are a number of access areas with gentle slope. Not to say that Parmenter is not suitable, certainly it is much more clear where town ownership stands with regards to Parmenter than with Reservoir Rd right now.   
Ana Lockwood commented that the town carries a budget line item for Shirley Dam Maintenance. The Shirley residents that have commented on the public lake issue have noted that residents carry a big financial burden to maintain the lake and the town does not carry this financial burden. Ana has reviewed the budget and noticed that the town carries a Lake Shirley Dam Maintenance budget 2023 line item of $10000/annual. So the town does carry financial burden to maintain Lake Shirley. Ana stated that she did not believe everyone understands about this town budget support for Lake Shirley. Probably most residents are not aware of this. This budget for Lake Shirley Dam maintenance is very large compared to other town budget items. As example the Parks Budget is appx $35k for the maintenance of all Parks in town. 
The Chairman acknowledged that numerous residents have commented on the town not providing financial support for the lake, and that lake residents pay more in taxes. The Chairman acknowledged the town financial support for the lake and commented that all towns’ people pay the same tax rate. The lake residents do not have a higher tax rate. The lake residents pay more dollar amount in tax, as their properties are valued higher. These are not reasons that the town should not use town property.  
The Chairman noted that he observed what appears to be an encroachment on town land by an abutter. This neighbor has constructed a shed on this Reservoir Rd parcel. There is a town drain on that parcel, which may be the original reason for the purchase of the parcel. 
Ana also noticed the encroachment, and will talk to the town manager. 
Mary asked which organization is responsible for following up on encroachment issues, and was told by Ana and the Chairman that this is the responsibility of the town manager.
The Chairman speculated that the encroachment was because the abutter did not realize that they were on town land. The shed is very close to the abutter’s house.
Eric Hinds is interested that avenues be explored to enable the town to use these parcels, with appropriate planning, etc. No matter what is done, it will likely still cause some issues for neighbor creating complaints. Eric intends to take a longer walk on the Reservoir road parcel. 

IV. Committee Comments/Concerns 
110 Burrage Potential Development (Chairman)
The Chairman related information that a resident (77 Burrage) spoke to him regarding a concern for a proposed development on 110 Burrage. The resident identified that this historical usage for this parcel was a septic disposal area. It appears the parcel is no longer on the market, nor under consideration for development. 
The Chairman and Brandon Kibbe researched this to confirm, or dispute, the claim that the parcel, or portions of the parcel, are contaminated. The Chairman and Brandon confirmed historical septic disposal, buried hazardous waste drums (example Benzene, TCE etc), and all kinds of things.  They found 4-5 release tracking numbers (RTNs, some closed and some open) on the Mass.gov EEA site regarding the hazardous substances. The Chairman noted that due to the hazardous dumping there he’s not incline to recommend purchase by the town, but commented perhaps some portions might be considered for a conservation easement or restrictions. The issue might be going away. 
The Chairman noted that wetlands from this parcel drain into Catacoonamug Brook, which drains into to Lake Shirley.
Parks Commission (Ana Lockwood)
Marshall Park Update – Parks Commissions is very excited that this is moving forward. They are kicking off the schematic phase this week, a site visit with the engineer and architect today. The goal is to have the Marshall Park Project fully funded by the 2024 Town Meeting, and able to break ground. The Parks Commission has good support from the Town Manager and Select Board. Hoping for substantial ARPA Funds & Grants are a potential opportunity of funding. The first applications will start going out this June-2023. It will be a multi-generational, multi-use project, with access to everyone that will be a great asset to the town.
Conservation Commission (Mary Wilson)
Conservation Meetings recently have only had 1 or 2 hearings each.
Lunenburg Earth Days - collaborating with Parks (Ana Lockwood). Lunenburg Town wide Earth Days are a series of volunteer opportunities in Lunenburg throughout the month of April. Numerous town properties are benefiting from volunteers turning out to provide interest and labor sprucing up the parcels. There have already been approximately 130 Volunteer Man-Hours accumulated, and there are still 2 more weekends of project scheduled. The hope is that this becomes an Annual April Event. Ana added that this has been a great event. 
Open Space Committee Opening (Chairman)
Still have an opening on the Open Space Committee for community member. Talent Bank forms have not yielded positive results. 
Mary Wilson volunteered to post the opportunity on FB, Stewards of Lunenburg Trails and misc Lunenburg FB pages.
Meeting Mins distribution (Mary Wilson)
The Chairman advised that the draft Meeting Minutes should be emailed to all committee members for review. 
V. Public Comment – 
N/A (no members of the public were present) 
VI. Meeting Schedule – 
5/1 (Mike Toohill cannot attend, Ana Lockwood to Chair), 
June 14th (Mike Toohill cannot attend, Ana Lockwood to Chair)

VII. Meeting Adjourned at 8:13 pm 
Motion by Mary Wilson, Second by Ana Lockwood, unanimous vote