The Conservation Commission voted 5-0 to authorize Chairman Marge Badois and member Mike Speltz to complete an application requesting parking lots at recreation areas be considered for inclusion in the 2017 to 2022 Capital Improvements Plan (CIP).
The Commission recently discussed with Eversource the potential to install a parking lot at the end of Hickory Hill, near proposed construction of a new transmission line in the energy company’s easement.
Eversource spokeswoman Elizabeth LaRocca told the Commission she would take its comments to the team working on the project in Londonderry.
“We don’t know what Eversource will say when they come back to us about the Musquash. There are five to eight different areas in the Recreation Plan that could be developed for more recreation, but they will require more parking,” Speltz said.
Alternate member Roger Fillio noted the Recreation Plan calls for more parking areas at the end of Hickory Hill.
“You could definitely park on Tanager Way or Faucher Road to get to the Musquash. But Hickory Hill, just at the end of the street, people tell me hundreds of people use it and there’s only room for about six cars there,” he said. “It doesn’t handle many people.”
FIllio asked what good it would do to complete other improvements in the Recreation Plan if people can’t get out there.
Speltz recommended the Commission look at the Recreation Plan and determine what they want to tackle in the five-year period the CIP covers.
The group agreed to consult with town staff to put dollar values to projects they hope to submit to the CIP Advisory Committee for consideration.
In the past, the Commission submitted an application to secure open space funding but the proposal wasn’t accepted because it was not specific enough, according to Speltz.
“This idea of building up our recreation lands definitely would fit the bill,” he said. “The question is, what do we want to do?”
Applications for projects to be considered for inclusion in the CIP must be submitted to the Advisory Committee by July 10.