07/15/2011

Open Space plan nearly ready; council grants three-month extension to work out parcel-naming details

The Open Space and Greenbelt Management Plan Committee, poised to present its final draft to the Town Council, will take another couple of months to complete the finishing touches.

The Town Council on July 11, 2011 granted a three-month extension to the committee's June 30, 2011 deadline for its final draft so the committee could work out some inconsistencies with the official names of some parcels described in the document.

It is the second extension the council has granted the committee, made up of the standing Conservation Commission and Jessica Sullivan, Town councilor serving as liaison.

The Conservation Commission was charged with drafting a management plan for the Town's open space, including the greenbelt, in April 2010. The 121-page draft plan was most recently updated this month, and it identifies and describes specific areas of Town-owned open space and clarifies rules for use.

Sullivan said the document was all but finished. However, "the town manager noted a potential issue with some of the names that we had given to parcels in town," she said at the July 11 council meeting. "This was a recent discovery on Mike McGovern's part, therefore we felt it prudent to wait until the full committee convenes so we can review this," she said.

The committee was scheduled to meet July 12, the day after the council meeting.

The new deadline for submitting the final draft is Sept. 30, 2011.