The Parks and Recreation Commission voted Nov. 4 to authorize Bruce Ringwall of engineering firm Goldsmith, Prest, and Ringwall to create a conceptual plan for a circular bicycle course, known as a pump track, in Harvard Park on Lancaster County Road.
The vote empowers Ringwall to submit a notice of intent asking the Conservation Commission, on Parks and Rec’s behalf, to allow work within 100 feet of the wetlands, though Ringwall said “the majority” of the track lies outside the wetland buffer zone. Now marked by red surveying flags, the pump track would be in the wooded area behind the McCurdy Track, roughly in the center of an existing looped trail currently used by the public and by the cross-country team. The pump track was part of a December 2023 proposal by planning and design firm BCS Group—“Harvard Park Woods”—for the expansion of Harvard Park. It would occupy an area of about 2 acres, according to that plan.
“We’re not going to be taking out trees,” Ringwall said, adding that he would prepare a sketch of the track for Parks and Rec to review before filing the notice of intent. Parks and Rec member Marisa Steele said the track would be made with dirt, not asphalt. Ringwall, part of a bicycling enthusiasts’ group, is surveying the land where the track would be built and will create a concept plan and file the notice of intent, all without charge to the town. No final plans have been approved, so it is too early to know the cost, Recreation Director Anne McWaters told the Press this week. She said it’s possible that volunteer work and grant money could be used to pay for part of the project.
“Once Parks and Rec is presented with a plan, they will have a chance to look at it and edit it as they see fit,” she said. After that, McWaters said, the commission hopes to begin working with the bicycling group to “provide a new biking option for residents to add to our recreational offerings.”
‘Concerned and frustrated’
The commission’s unanimous vote, however, took at least one attendee by surprise, as it took place under the agenda item “commission updates” and did not include mention of the pump track or of Ringwall as a scheduled speaker (see sidebar). By contrast, another speaker at the meeting, Charles Oliver, was listed on the agenda to talk about storage space at Harvard Park under the agenda item “sheds.”
Old Mill Road resident Luke Kirkland expressed “concern and frustration” at the vote. “Midway through this meeting, a component of the long-term vision of this complex has been voted on to proceed,” he said. “Despite [our] being told that you’re exploring all the options, that does not feel like what’s happening,” Kirkland said.
The component Kirkland referred to was the pump track, part of an athletic complex envisioned in the BCS plan, which included a pump track, pickleball courts, and a soccer field. The conceptual plan included an option to convert conservation land on Old Mill Road—the Stone land—into a soccer field and would require replacement conservation land to be secured elsewhere in town. Parks and Rec is currently pursuing that option with the support of the Select Board; negotiations for replacing the Stone land with a town-owned parcel behind the elementary school, the Small land, are ongoing. A vote of Town Meeting would be needed to effect the swap, assuming the proposal got that far.
In response to Kirkland’s remarks, McWaters said: “It’s tough to hear some of this. Please understand that a lot of time and effort has gone into this, and we’re sharing what we can when we can.”
The impetus for the athletic complex envisioned in the BCS plan was another consultant-written report, the September 2023 report by Gale Associates. It concluded that the town needed at least one more full-sized, multipurpose, rectangular athletic field to accommodate its soccer and lacrosse teams and to lessen the wear and tear on its four overused multipurpose fields.
Next week: Stakeholders speak out on the issues surrounding the development of new athletic fields.
Open Meeting Law guidance for meeting notices
According to advice on the state’s mass.gov website regarding the Open Meeting Law, agenda items “must contain enough specificity to give the public an understanding of each topic that will be discussed. It is not sufficient to list broad topic categories, such as “Old Business.”
Although boards can consider topics not listed in the agenda if they were “reasonably unanticipated” 48 hours before the meeting, “the Attorney General strongly encourages public bodies to postpone discussion and action on topics that are controversial or may be of particular interest to the public if those topics were not listed in the meeting notice.” —VH
