===PAGE 1=== Town of Lunenburg Park Commission Karin Menard, Chair 978.582.4160 Chris Sullivan, Vice Chair 520 Chase Road Susanna Jewell, Secretary Lunenburg, MA 01462 Dave Passios, Member Ana Lockwood, Member TOWN OF LUNENBURG PARKS COMMISSION THURSDAY DECEMBER 2, 2021 MINUTES 1. Open mee@ng at 7:00pm. In a,endance is Karin Menard, Ana Lockwood, Chris Sullivan and Dave Passios. Also in a,endance are the representaCve from WOLA Kathryn Ostermier, Emily Wright and Nick Be,s from Meridian Engineering. 2. Public and board Comment-none 3. Marshall Park- Landscape Architect WOLA discussion forum- PresentaCon was led by Kathryn Ostermier but stressed it was more a listening session for WOLA to gather concerns, comments, etc. Asked quesCon what is liked about the Park as it is now and what the public and board would like to see it look like in the future. Collected notes from commissioners in a,endance with comments. Some comments were, proximity to town to make it easy for folks to gather, the history of the park and how it fits in the neighborhood, and open space in town center Asked what would be the one thing to be changed at the park. Comments were open space and mulC-purpose fields, be,er pond access, accessibility and a diversity of uses, more generaConal spaces for community gatherings, and more acCviCes aside from baseball and soQball. Asked what are worries or concerns about the future of the park. Concerns were the overgrowth of vegetaCon at the pond, the lack of use would make it obsolete and eventually sold, lack of upkeep aQer the renovaCon, and maintenance safety of visitors and neighbors, and bringing in too much acCvity. Asked what would make this a successful project. Comments were a park that is mulC-use while maintaining open space, knowing that when one goes there people will be using it regularly due to a wider amount of offerings, a park that brings in people looking for things to do, have the small town feel, expanding community uses especially for passive adult recreaCon, and documentaCon of historically significant locaCons in the park. Discussion among the members of important features such as the underground bunker, making it accessible to the Senior Center, the cinder track around the 90 foot diamond, the basketball courts, a trail along the pond connecCon to Highland St. From the survey an ice skaCng rink was menConed frequently. A Lockwood menConed that the pond has overgrown and perimeter of the pond has changed. D Passios thinks it’s the beaver problem that is rising the water level. Discussion on possible placement of changes in the park such as the 90 foot Diamond to help with the parking situaCon. ===PAGE 2=== Dave Rogers a resident of Highland St couldn’t get into the Zoom meeCng so he walked up. He voiced that he’s been in town 40+ years and have used Marshall Park over the years. He’s concerned that the memorials in the park would be moved out of the park. Safety is his number one concern. He menConed that the traffic and congesCon during a baseball game or event is a hazard if a fire truck or rescue vehicle needed to get there. He voiced that nothing should be done to Marshall Pond to keep it small town. He then recommended not changing the baseball fields to include mulC-use fields. D Passios spoke about the “very old” PonCac leQ in the woods and would like it chained off and memorialized on how it got there. He’d like all the memorials and monuments be renovated and preserved and have a historic trail. K Menard would like to preserve but not necessarily keep it where it is. She spoke of a pavilion area for all weather programs that might be more beneficial there than something exisCng. C Sullivan agreed with that and would like the park to include all sports. D Passios had a drawing of a suggested potenCal pavilion area. Parking access in from Chestnut St. would enter in the front third of that area and beyond the pavilion do a shuffleboard or volleyball and the sepCc system would be there. Discussion on Toilets and the sepCc system. Discussion on Li,le League and baseball fields. A resident from town, Chris Menard, from 672 Page St. has concerns that the baseball issues should be planned for the need in 10-30 years. He thinks that lacrosse is more popular than baseball so the fields should be mulC-purpose. D Passios thinks that the town needs find a property to create a rectangular field complex and not retrofit Marshall Park. A Lockwood circled back to the pond and trails. She menConed the pond supporCng wildlife and wants to protect them from too much acCvity. She agrees to look to the future when planning fields. C Sullivan added that the park should be used by the majority of the town central. C Menard spoke again and menConed the fields at Devens and their uses. K Menard added that the next meeCng for the public parCcipaCon will be January 6, 2022. Discussion with WOLA on the public meeCngs and design meeCngs. February 2 would be the next meeCng if the room is available. K Ostermier will have a draQ of the site analysis presentaCon for any comments from the board and coordinate on meeCng preparaCon to get the public engaged. She’d like to reach out to DPW director Rob Oliva to be,er understand the maintenance capabiliCes and his concerns and wants to do a walkthrough of some of the sites in Town. And she’ll talk to the Skate Park people. 4. Open Space- Brief discussion regarding potenCal ideas to be submi,ed for grant consideraCon. K Menard brought up A Lockwood’s knowledge of Open Space funds that are available and didn’t know if there were any projects for her to bring to the Open Space commi,ee. One issue is weeds and signage at the beach. D Passios asked if Open Space could assist in idenCfying a few small pieces of town owned land that could be turned into grassed, possibly fenced, open space for the purpose of off leash dog exercising. Parks could then request transfer of care and custody to the Parks Commission to improve and maintain these properCes. A Lockwood menConed the West Pleasant St area that is currently used to hay. C Sullivan thinks the beach is the first priority. 5. Other Business- K Menard menConed in the last couple of months, the school has reopened their policy on their faciliCes uses. She went to one of the School Commi,ee meeCngs. She commented that Lunenburg Youth Sports and town related use is not one and the same. They are acCng on that at their December 15th meeCng and would potenCally put Lunenburg Youth Sports above Town related uses. Discussion followed from the Commission about their raConale for the prioriCes and the reciprocal use agreement. K Menard has asked Rob Thompson to come sit to pull League registraCon forms and verify dates. She has concerns with increasing fees ===PAGE 3=== as she believes the registraCon has already opened and they’ve set their usage fees. C Menard, Vice Chair of the FINCOM has asked the DPW Director to present his budget to Parks, he’d like that figured into the agenda in Jan/Feb Cmeline. 6. Next mee@ng date/agenda January 6th next meeCng 7. Adjourn-MoCon to adjourn at 9:23 made by D Passios, seconded by C Sullivan Roll Call A Lockwood - aye Chris Sullivan - aye Dave Passios - aye Karin Menard - aye Respeckully submi,ed Dawn Pavone Minutes Secretary