HomeMy Public PortalAbout20120905 - Upper Charles Trail Committee - Meeting Minutes1
UPPER CHARLES TRAIL COMMITTEE
Wednesday, September 5, 2012 7:00 PM
Room 211, Town hall, 18 Main St., Hopkinton, MA
MINUTES
Members Present: Jane Moran, Mark Gates, Mike Resteghini, John Mosher, Ken Parker
Members Absent: Brian Eberlin, Bob Snyder
The Committee voted 4 in favor, with Mr. Mosher abstaining, to approve the Minutes of the
August 15, 2012 meeting, with the modification to insert the 8:30 pm time of adjournment.
The Committee noted that regarding membership, it is expected that Jeff Barnes will join, but he
is not officially a member yet. The Committee also hopes to get an appointed member from the
Open Space Preservation Committee. As there are seven members, 4 constitutes a quorum.
The Committee decided to pass on electing officers (for now) until more members are in
attendance.
The Committee will hold our next meeting in two weeks, same time, same place. We all would
like Elaine Lazarus to be able to attend, but she is committed on Wednesday nights, while the
rest of us aren’t all available on Mon Tues or Thurs. Therefore, we will correspond indirectly
with Elaine.
The Committee accepts the charge as written by the Board of Selectmen, copied from Elaine’s
memo as follows:
The Committee is charged with developing the Upper Charles Trail in Hopkinton, from
the Milford Town line to the Ashland town line, which shall include the Hopkinton
Center Trail. The Committee’s responsibilities shall include, but shall not be limited to,
planning, design, permitting, property rights acquisition and construction of the Trail and
associated infrastructure. The Committee shall identify, apply for and receive any State,
Federal or private grants which may become available for the accomplishment of its
mission. The Committee may request and advocate for Community Preservation Act
funds.
The Committee shall also consider whether to establish a Friends of the Hopkinton Upper
Charles Trail 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which will incorporate and encourage
citizen involvement, work cooperatively with citizens and the Town to promote the
proper use and care of the Trail, raise and expend funds for maintenance and
improvements, and oversee the Trail and report improper uses. If establishment is
recommended by the Committee, it shall take any and all actions necessary to establish
the organization.
In addition to this charge, the Committee’s goal remains (as stated in the previous minutes)
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To develop a hard surface trail (for bicycles) to connect between the Milford bike trail to
the Center Trail, and then to the Ashland town border (along the lines of the old Master
Plan), and to promote access from neighborhoods to this trail, with particular attention to
connections to Hopkinton State Park.
With regard to this goal, the Committee needs to develop a link with the Planning Board so that
we can when appropriate discuss how to interface new developments with the Upper Charles
Trail system as it develops. John Mosher is to send an email to Elaine on this point.
Ken could not find the packet that Reno DeLuzio, Town of Milford, sent to him a few years ago,
which included a guide for how to make the trails happen, including a timeline used by Milford,
with items like timing for informing abutters. Hopefully Elaine has another copy, or another is
obtainable from Reno.
The Committee decided to not interact with Holliston and Milford directly until we have figured
out better where the trail is to be placed between the Loop Road and the Milford town line.
Mark hopes to print map made from appropriate web sites, potentially in two sections, from
Milford to Center Trail, and from Center Trail to Ashland. Hopefully, this map will enable us to
figure out relevant property ownership issues more efficiently.
We examined the pdf printouts regarding some details of the territory between Granite St. and
Teresa Rd., especially 192 Hayden Rowe. It appears that this parcel is accessible from Deer
Run, but does not extend to Teresa, meaning that a high priority is to figure out how to link from
there to Teresa. There appears to be 15 separate parcels (each with houses) on Teresa blocking
access to the town land. It appears that the parcel may also be accessible to Joseph Rd., but this
route is longer. We need to figure out how to follow up: at this point, none have walked the site.
The Hopkinton Trail Club will have a hike of the north section of Legacy Farms on Sept 22nd, or
29-30, yet to be decided, to which committee members are invited.
We spoke about the desirability of keeping up with the Planning Board regarding Stephen Zieff’s
commitments to the sidewalk between Legacy Farms and Ray St. along Rt. 135.
We need to figure out what kind of electronic access we will have to the web, so that we can
address land ownership issues at meetings. Will we have a projector? Ken had his PC, but
didn’t have it connected during the meeting.
Meeting adjourned: 8:15 PM
Approved: September 19, 2012
Documents used at the meeting:
Memo dated 8/30/12 to Upper Charles Trail Committee from Elaine Lazarus
Assessors map excerpts entitled “MapsOnline” printed 8/30/12
Draft Minutes of the 8/15/12 meeting