Open Space Committee Meeting: July 8, 2025

Attending: Rick Gardner, Annie Charrette, Susan Downing, Laura Reynolds, Deb Cary (remotely)

Excused: Brian Specht, Phil O’Brien

Meeting came to order at 7:06

Last month’s minutes were approved unanimously by the five members present.

Video request-There has been a request by Deb Focher, Recreation Committee, for a short video to be shown at the Outdoor Movie night. Rick  has taken this on and requests pictures of the various hikes we sponsor- Adult Hikes, Kid’s Hikes, Slow and Smooth Hikes, and  we will also feature the QR code for our website in this video presentation.

Idea to Attract Kids We briefly discussed an idea brought forward by Josh Petith of adding features to one of our trails to attract kids. Rick will discuss with PLT and  Annie will discuss with the Kid’s Hike group this Saturday

Earth Month Cleanup Rick shared a Certificate of Appreciation that the Open Space Committee received for participating in the April clean up.

Open Space website feedback Rick shared web stats from the Select Board. Our Open Space committee website receives a lot of hits. Rick says the Town Website may be changing. Rick  has volunteered to work on the town team for the new web tool.

Software for hike meetup tool was not presented as was not present.

The next Kids Hike will be July 12 at 9:00am. will coordinate with Rev Joelle.

TPS trails Deb reported that we are still awaiting grant decision about making trails All Person Trails. She also shared that Dot Olson and the sign crew have created new signs highlighting the pollinator garden. Annie shared that moving the Japanese Maple that blocks the entrance to the TPS trail, has been explored by Karen and Gerry Pelligrini, but to date it is challenging to be relocated.

Goodnow Trails Susan brought up this trail is not being maintained. Rick and Deb volunteered to take on August. Annie  and ??? will take on September.

Rick proposed we spend $27 on paint for marking the Goodnow Trail and it was approved unanimously by the five members present.

• The three new benches will be placed near the stream on the Mirick Trail, one at Mary’s Grove on the Goodnow Trail and the third on Cobb Brook near the new bridge.

Trail Planning Phil O’brien has ideas for rewriting the text. This was discussed and all agreed this is a good plan.

The next three sections- Parking to Natural Resource- were reviewed.

One question that came up was, should we encourage bike use on the trails? We decided to find a contact within the biking community to review the plan. will look through the names from the Trail Summit for a bike contact or ask Martin Sterman.

We looked at the Trail Signage comments but decided this is something we could work on with texts back and forth and at a different point in reviewing the overall Trail Plan.

For the Natural Resource section, Laura suggested we should adopt the DCR Trail guide/ best practice model. will send this out to the group to review before our next meeting. We will start with this section at our next meeting.

Prioritize Trail Projects ideas were discussed  Rick will send out the directions for prioritizing the trail projects to the group again. He will also send out a TO DO list to discuss at the next meeting.

Parcel analysis continues. PLT has begun the process of sending out information to land owners.

Princeton Hikes! are going well. Susan and Rick are working together.

Meeting adjourned at 8:35pm The Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday August 5 beginning at 7:00pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Annie Charrette