In his July 11 Point Road Path Update to the Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission, Chairman John Rockwell told the members that he has procured some straw-waddle rolls that has benefited from some old-fashioned muscle for installation.
MOSAC member Tom Friedman and area resident Shaun Walsh are helping install the batches or the erosion-control material for the purpose of controlling drainage along the path. Noting he lives nearby, Friedman offered to pick up the next batch of straw waddle that Rockwell drops off.
“I give all credit to Shaun who did the first installation, and he used stakes with that,” said Friedman. Walsh said he installed four stakes.
Quoting Gisele Bundchen’s famous criticism of the New England Patriots, Rockwell noted that the ball is being thrown and caught as community member step up to volunteer with the physical labor it takes to make the project happen.
Friedman says he’s noticed “a ton of tire tracks” and trucks and trailers parked along Point Road. “It’s loosening up the sand quite a bit, and we’ve already got spots where we’ve got tremendous erosion,” he said.
Walsh asked Rockwell to identify the next step toward the creation of the Point Road bike path. Rockwell indicated it’s critical to identify the area where the water is crossing the path. The goal would be to split up those areas to prevent water from crossing the path in one spot. He said another spot was used as a “jury-rigged infiltration structure” that has been “heavily compacted or covered up.”
Solving those two issues, Rockwell indicated, is a prerequisite to unlocking the rest of the project. MOSAC needs to identify a plan to stop the water from crossing to a common point and then running down the path. The solution will likely involve pipes buried under enough material to protect them from being crushed.
“When it rains 6 inches, it’s going to go across, but when it only rains an inch it’d be nice if it didn’t have any impact,” explained Rockwell, noting he has the stakes to enact the process of determining the key spot along the path where deflection is needed. “That drainage issue has to be taken into account first.”
Walsh asked if raising the elevation to create a drainage swale might allow the water to infiltrate the ground. Rockwell concurred with the idea and offered to go out to the site with Walsh and look over the area.
Jenna Drive resident Carol Molander asked about the process of reducing the speed limit to 25 miles per hour. “It’s just a safety concern with kids out of school now,” she said.
Friedman alluded to the speed-limit discussion at the Annual Town Meeting on May 13 and referenced recommendations from the floor that the police could more easily make a difference by stepping up its enforcement of the existing speed limits (the Marion PD recently issued a press release announcing such an effort).
Rockwell discussed correspondence from former MOSAC member Alan Harris about a pile of trash recently discovered at Goldavitz Bog that has been cleaned up by the Marion Department of Public Works and the Sippican Lands Trust (of which Harris is a member). “My hat’s off to them,” Rockwell said, also noting the importance of the path at Grassi Bog that will now be mowed.
Rockwell expressed frustration with the town’s Open Space plan that was enacted in 2017 and has yet to be completed.
In a reorganization, recent MOSAC member Kitty DeGroot was voted to become the commission’s vice chairperson and clerk.
Representing MOSAC to the Community Preservation Committee has not come as easily, but Rockwell anticipates a potential vacancy in the group and that may lead to a volunteer for representation. The CPC meets in consecutive weeks during the winter before voting to award Community Preservation Act funding for eligible private and public projects.
The commission voted to enter executive session to discuss the purchase of real property and did not return to public session.
The next meeting of the Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission was not announced upon adjournment of the public session.
Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission
By Mick Colageo