• Open Space and Greenbelt Management Committee charge
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The Town Council has directed the Conservation Commission to draft an Open Space and Greenbelt Management Plan.

The charge was approved by the council on April 12 and applies to Town-owned open space and greenbelt trails, with the exception of Fort Williams Park, which has its own management structure.

The directive is a first step toward one of the council's 2010 goals to practice greater environmental stewardship.

"The basic idea is that we have a lot of different types of open space in the town," Town Councilor Jessica Sullivan said at the April 12 council meeting. "There is a lot of use, there are conflicts of use, there are all kinds of people that want to use the space we have - people that walk, ride their bikes, ride horses, that sort of thing," she said.

"And so it's reached the point where a management plan is a good idea," said Sullivan, who is the council member overseeing execution of the plan.

Technically the charge creates an Open Space and Greenbelt Management Plan Committee, made up of Sullivan and members of the Conservation Commission.

"The Town of Cape Elizabeth now owns close to 10 percent of the total acreage of the town as open space with legal public access," according to the charge adopted by the council. "The open space and the trails are highly valued by town residents and significantly contribute to community character," it says.

The charge includes conducting an inventory of Town-owned open space - location, identification, classification and common uses such as a trail or field; and, identifying possible user conflicts within each space, such as dogs, snowmobiles, horses or mountain bikes.

The charge goes on to specify items that, as a minimum, should be addressed in the plan:

• Hunting, fishing and firearm discharge;
• Abutter encroachments/unauthorized construction;
• Easements and deed restrictions - catalogue and standardize;
• Hours of operation;
• Funding;
• Signage: type, visibility, legal guidelines re: unauthorized removal, etc.
• Website;
• Mapping;
• Maintenance (vegetation removal, invasive plants, dead trees);
• Standard trail specification: review of existing trails and their condition, consideration of trail surface design for specialized uses, if warranted;
• Identification and responsibility of: Conservation Commission, Town Council, Public Works, neighborhood groups and other key stakeholders, etc.;
• Statement of short and long term goals of the management plan

The charge directs the committee to hold at least one public hearing, and to submit a plan to the council by Dec. 31, 2010. The council is also expecting updates every six months once the committee begin meeting. Public notice of all meetings will be posted on this website.

The committee will be staffed by Town Planner Maureen O'Meara, and Public Works Director Robert Malley.