Chairman John Rockwell told the June 4 Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission meeting that he and commission member Jeff Oakes are working on getting a Notice of Intent together to present to the town’s Conservation Commission for a wetlands replication area to compensate for concessions that they are hoping to obtain in an Order of Conditions for the Point Road Path project.
“Jeff was very smart and got the wetlands replication area within our easement area. It’s just 400 square feet so we snuck it in,” said Rockwell. “I’m just doing the drainage calculations and then we’ll be good for filing Notice of Intent.”
The NOI is for the permit application for the end of the Wetlands Act because the Point Road Path will fill in about 400 square feet of wetland, according to Rockwell.
“It can be a short process or a long process. I’ve never found it to be predictable,” Rockwell explained to commission member Alan Harris. “It’s at least two meetings. (ConCom will) have questions, then you have to answer those questions.”
Rockwell told commission members he would distribute the application to them for review, then seek an appointment with the Board of Selectmen. According to Rockwell, the selectmen will have to sign as the owners of Point Road, and are also owners of the easement that the commission is working on. He attributed the “slow going” to COVID-19.
“Fortunately, you guys got a lot of on-the-ground work done pretty quickly at the beginning of the year, and the part where we had people come out and look at it while people could still look at things together so that was good,” said commission member Amanda Chase.
Rockwell noted that the fieldwork was finished in January.
Oakes, who would join the Zoom meeting in progress, suggested that the commission “stake out” the remainder of the path where tree cutting would presumably take place and get the ball rolling on some parallel planning so that the overall project might be further along once ConCom responds to the NOI. “That’s the critical path and it’s going to be a long one,” he said.
Rockwell initially called it “a good idea” but upon further clarification wanted to get the NOI out of the way first. He said they can take advantage of the “dead space” in between the filing of the NOI and further meetings with ConCom.
The commission also tackled the subject of signage for conservation areas. Rockwell adapted some previously used signs and presented to the commission the signage as a color scheme.
The sign for Great Swamp Conservation Area says “Have a Nice Walk,” “No Motorized Vehicles,” “Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission” and the email address openscape@marionma.gov.
“It’s not very professional-looking, but it has that homespun look which is good,” said Rockwell, noting that the hand-drawn sign also fits the commission’s budget of zero. He displayed an 18×12 inch, repurposed parking sign that he had sprayed the previously used side black to block out its former message.
Commission member Casey Gunschel was hoping to have a stencil made to bypass the artistic challenge and then be able to confidently produce the necessary signs. Chace and Town Planner Gil Hilario both liked the hand-painted sign.
Rockwell explained that the same information can go on signs for Grassi Bog and Goldavitz Bog conservation areas. Gunschel stressed the need for exact wording before attempting to produce more signs. Harris will work on a separate parking sign for Goldavitz Bog.
“I like to have ‘Conservation Area’ in the wording so people know it’s not a park, it’s not a party site. It’s a conservation area where you can take a walk,” said Rockwell. “It’s different from other town properties in that it’s for conservation.”
Harris said that open-space maintenance is lacking with mowing during tick season. “I would love to mow at Grassi Bog,” he said. “We had hoped for the DPW to possibly pencil us in, but it’s not happening… It’s an amazing tick-collecting site at the moment.”
Rockwell said he will reach out to Town Administrator Jay McGrail, Department of Public Works Director David Willett and Board of Selectmen Chairperson Randy Parker to request their assistance in the matter. “It has to be cut because people can’t use it. We’re getting into prime tick season, June and July. June is bad,” said Rockwell. “We have to get the town into mowing our paths; some are mowed, some are not.”
Seniors are typically involved in helping with open-space maintenance via cooperation with the Council on Aging, but Hilario cautioned the commission that COA Director Karen Gregory has put senior workers on hold since the coronavirus pandemic affected Marion’s operations.
The commission entered executive session to discuss land acquisition and did not return. The next meeting of Marion’s Open Space Acquisition Commission was not announced.
Marion Open Space Acquisition Commission
By Mick Colageo