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February 23, 2005
Selectmen Meeting-Public Hearing Minutes –February 22, 2005
Present: M. Oldershaw, and B. Pratt
Also in attendance: W. Prokop, M. Morrow, S. Chatfield, J. Souillere, R. Wood, P. Beblowski, S. Harding, R. Holmes, S. Nelkens, D. Lyons, M. Lyons, R. Seavey, S. Young, P. Moore, B. Cuddihy, L. Bryer, R. Edwards, L. Henderson.
The selectmen opened the meeting at 7:00 P.M.
The Public hearing was opened by Selectman Oldershaw who welcomed everyone and explained the background on the committee and the land search. He then informed everyone that he had letters of support for this site from, the Police Chief, the Road Agent, Friends of Recreation, and the Conservation Commission, and he read 2 of the letters to the group. He then introduced R. Wood of the Recreation Land Search Committee to give a presentation on the plan.
R. Wood gave a very complete presentation, covering the last two years of work by the committee, the steps that lead to this site selection, he introduced the committee, and explained why they feel that this site, the Gould Property at 56 West Street was the site of choice for the committee. He read the “Warrant Article” that will come before the Town on March 10th and explained the purpose. The land will consist of 72 acres more or less, will be used initially for 2 fields a baseball field, and a soccer field. The cost to purchase will be $120,000 and $55,000 will be used for engineering and in getting the land prepared for the fields.. P. Beblowski then explained the Conservation Commissions involvement and gave a brief overview of the conservation activities that could take place in the future on this
property. R. Wood then took questions from the public.
Some of the questions raised were? Are we providing enough protection for the current resident of the house located in front of the property? How much land will remain with the house? How much logging will be done on the property? Will there be lighting for the ball fields? Is the Town considering widening West Street? Will the schools be able to use this property for field studies? This is just a sampling of the questions. Most were answered, and some could not be answered at this time. Engineering and wetlands testing will have to be done before a final plan can be prepared and presented to the Town.
Most people present thought that this was a very positive step for the Town to take and were very supportive of the committee’s efforts. M. Oldershaw thanked the committee for an excellent presentation and asked the public if they had any additional questions. The Public Hearing was then closed and the selectmen went into a Non-Public session.
The selectmen voted to go back into public session at 8:30 p.m.
The selectmen then reviewed various correspondences and signed the payroll and accounts payable for the week.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
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