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10-02-19 OSRC MinutesCITY OF BEVERLY PUBLIC MEETING MINUTES SUBCOMMITTEE: DATE: BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: RECORDER: Open Space and Recreation Committee October 2, 2019 David Brewster (Vice Chair), David Alden -St. Pierre, Elizabeth Dunne, Marilyn McCrory, Wayne Miller, Gregory Sharp, Todd Callaghan Charlie Mann (Chair) Jenna Pirrotta, Environmental Planner Elizabeth Keary Soule, Nathan Currie Sharlyne Woodbury Brewster opens the meeting at 7:07 p.m. 2. Members of the public opportunity to address the Committee a. Long Hill Master Plan (Elizabeth Keary Soule) Elizabeth Keary Soule is an architect with The Trustees, working with Mikyoung Kim Design to create the Long Hill master plan. Soule provides an update on the Long Hill master plan, as it might interest the Committee and she provides information on the history and description of the property. The property boasts 114 acres of the Sedgwick farmhouse estate dedicated to an apple orchard, meadows, woodland trails, the Sedgwick Gardens, a children's garden, and agricultural fields. Part of those agricultural fields include an organic vegetable farm run by The Food Project as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project. For a long time the site was used as private headquarters of the Trustees. Now there is a desire to make this a regional and horticultural destination. The Trustees would like to provide for greater public access and participation in this unique property. At the moment most traffic is a result of local area residents with not a lot of public interest. The Plan desires to concurrently follow the outline of the Beverly City Master Plan connecting with the Essex County Greenbelt Association. Currently they enjoy a good relationship with the North Shore Garden Club. Overall the site is under visited and the design concepts presented have a few goals to attract public attention. Soule explains the top answers to accomplish this goal are to: 1) create horticultural work - shops, 2) revitalize the woodland gardens, 3) design nature walks, and 4) structure public programming. The Trustees thinks of master planning in a holistic way tying the property back to its historical roots. Soule further explains in order to draw in the public they are looking to have a new entrance with public parking at the base of the property; new infrastructure with an orientation space and greenhouse(s); and a greater emphasis on the Sedgwick Gardens. The Gardens should be the jewel of the property accentuated on the hill top. Soule further presents detailed renderings of the design and believes their plan plus the City Master Plan aligns well with timing. Open Space & Recreation Committee October 2, 2019 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 5 Discussion begins about the property's access points and connecting junctures, walking trails, bike trails, dog walking, and the garden's current status. Callaghan questions what facilitates any regional connections on the north and west sides and whether there are connecting points to Grove Street and Long Hill. Alden -St. Pierre would like to know are bikes allowed on the trails. Soule responds that there is not enough visitation for a policy therefore it's open to interpretation. Miller inquired if dogs are allowed. Dunne proposes finding a connecting spot for the Committee to debate points of access and entry. Discussion ensues regarding the bike trails and whether they require special consultation. Brewster inquires if any connectivity trails were proposed and also inquires about the current status of the gardens. Soule responds an outreach attempt was made but there is not follow up presently. The public gardens are currently maintained by The Food Project and volunteers. Miller ultimately asks what the Committee can do for Long Hill. Soule would like to know if the Committee has any suggestions for best ways to align their project to the City Master Plan. Miller states the Committee must fully review the whole project to make any recommendations. Soule iterates they're open to project suggestions that would make this a continuity of the "Emerald Necklace ". Alden -St. Pierre would like to review the Emerald Necklace plan for concepts and goals regarding access. Soule admits there could be topographical challenges. They're not familiar about wetlands and other types of terrain that would be considered issues. McCrory inquired about the property line- whether it's in Beverly or Wenham. Committee members ask whether there is any connection, collaboration, or participation with public events like Earth Day, etc., near the property that provide recreational recognition. Brewster advised to review the local partnerships comparing what works well with the Crane Estate could work for The Trustees at Long Hill and to keep open communication with Pirrotta. b. Potential New Trail at Sally Milligan Park (Nathan Currie) Nathan Currie is a trail user in the North Shore area who inquired with Bruce Doig about developing a trail at Sally Milligan Park. His trail would connect other trails with the soccer field and parking area at 116 Cross Lane. Mr. Currie provided a mark -up and map of the proposed trails which include stream crossings and is advised it should also be reviewed by the Conservation Commission. Discussion ensues regarding the map and trails contained therein. They ask Mr. Currie if he did a walk - through of the proposed trail. Dunne and Sharp jointly raise concerns regarding the stone wall. The committee further deliberates the parking issues and connecting trails. Brewster recalls discussions from a previous time where the task to connect the trails was too daunting as a result of the wetlands and extensive brush. Callaghan expresses there is a desire to connect the parking lot by the soccer field to the existing trails. The Committee members converse about past efforts to connect the trails together remembering why it was not approved or done. There are concerns with the wetlands and poison ivy in the area. Building bridges could be costly and may not work well with the topography and its challenges. The Committee does not move forward with a plan to connect the trails and parking lot at the moment and suggests Mr. Currie spend more reconnaissance time in the area. However, they encourage Mr. Currie to continue bringing new thoughts and ideas to the meetings. Open Space & Recreation Committee October 2, 2019 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 5 3. Approval of Minutes McCrory motions to accept Sept 4, 2019 meeting minutes as amended. Alden -St. Pierre seconds. All in favor. Motion carries 6 -0. 4. Principal Items of Business a. OSRC Annual Report — Review and Updates Pirrotta provides the OSRC 2019 Annual Report for the members to review. Slight changes to the draft report include updates by Alden -St. Pierre on which conference he attended. Pirrotta will connect with Charlie on any revisions and coordination for presenting to the Council and will make all final edits. b. Community Preservation Committee — Representative Report McCrory maintains there are no new updates for the Community Preservation Committee representative report. She reiterates the October meeting schedule. The annual informational public hearing is scheduled for Thursday October 10, 2019, 7pm, Beverly Public Library, The Barnett Room. Second, November 8, 2019 pre - applications are due at noon. Applications will be reviewed with eligibility announcements around December 6, 2019. Full applications for those eligible are due January 10, 2020 at noon. c. Planning Board — Representative Report Miller maintains there are no new updates to the Planning Board representative report. Currently the Planning Board is focused on The Depot II Project. Miller expressed concerns for not focusing attention on the sustainability of the project in regards to solar and green energy concepts. Another area of interest discussed was the easements connecting to the Pole Swamp. Miller had discussions with the mayor regarding the issue. The property owners have been approached. Sharp inquired if the area of interest is better than the current access point. Miller provides a status for the proposed meeting with the mayor, Miller, and Alden -St. Pierre. To date there is no meeting scheduled, however, they are on the list to see the mayor. Miller indicates that a specific agenda and discussion items should be set in advance. Brewster questioned if there was any discussion to connect County Way to the Folly Hill area. Presently the only public and residential vehicle access is from the 128 North bound side Exit 21. Miller replies not at this time. Open Space & Recreation Committee October 2, 2019 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 5 d. Green Street — Update There are no new updates to report. Per the agenda presented by Pirrotta: "a letter was submitted to CPC requesting a one year extension due to delays in construction from legal action ". Pirrotta states there will be an update after the October 8 th City Council Meeting. 5. Recreational Trails Grant a. Review Final Maps/Final Steps for Signs Per the agenda, a final deadline for all changes was 9/27/2019. Sharp provides updates on the signs in their current state presenting a one page summary to the members. He questioned the sizes for Sally Milligan, Norwood, and JC Phillips sign. Discussion ensues regarding the signs and their sizes. Size consistency among the signs is still an issue in relation to the kiosks. Pirrotta provides the original and amended sign quotes. Miller asks how many signs there are and asks about the original quote. Alden -St. Pierre maintains no new signs for Fox Hill and Bald Hill with no updates to the map. Sharp understands there are two sizes. Jewett and Sally Milligan are vertical. The Committee must determine real size of each sign and to fit the size to the map available. Pirrotta maintains from Wynne's email that the original quote is for 6 signs, the amended quote is for 9 signs. Wynne will follow up with United Sign for prices as quoted. Sharp will ask Wynne to obtain a quote for the larger signs of Sally Milligan, JC Phillips, and Norwood in order to fit the existing kiosks. Miller will coordinate with Wynne for the maps and their signs. Discussion ensues regarding which maps are most current and consistent with their numbering systems plus updated trails. Miller asked for group consensus on the Beverly Commons map background that 60% of the color saturation for the greens on the maps is appropriate. Per Mann, the blue perimeter trail remains as is, consistent with other New England areas. Yellow will remain for the fire routes. McCrory asks about the gray trails and Miller expresses they are simply labeled "other trails ". Callaghan points out that the connecting trail as a dotted line is confusing. It resembles a boundary instead of a trail. To maintain consistency with the Emerald Plan, he recommends changing the dotted line to solid and changing the color to be more prominent suggesting a reddish pink color. The members discuss and evaluate the suggestion and agree. Further discussion circles back to JC Phillips, Sally Milligan, and Norwood. Sharp mentions for the final design he will put all on the Google share for everyone to view. b. Installation Plan The Department of Public Services will be installing the signs with Wynne. 6. Other Business & Updates a. Master Plan — Update Open Space & Recreation Committee October 2, 2019 Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 5 Currently neighborhood outreach meetings are progressing. Please see the schedule on the web at plan.beverlyma.gov. Sharp mentions he attended the meeting for his area. McCrory inquires of Miller if there will be a Master Plan Representative or "consultant" to attend future Open Space and Recreation Committee meetings and provide updates to the Committee. There is no such intention at this time, not that it cannot be approached in the future. b. OSRC 2020 Schedule Pirrotta will update the meeting schedule for 2020 maintaining consistency with the 2019 schedule: 1s Wednesdays of the month at 7:00 pm unless there's a conflict with a holiday, with no August meeting. No objections from the members. 7. Future Agenda Items McCrory would like to review and discuss the Open Space Plan. Adjournment Alden -St. Pierre moves to adjourn meeting at 9:13 p.m. Miller and Callaghan concurrently second. All in favor. Motion carries 6 -0. Next meeting November 6, 2019.