Prifti Park is part of a seven-acre parcel of land owned by the Town of Southwick where the former Consolidated School was located. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
SOUTHWICK – The town is working towards making Prifti Park an actual park.
Despite its name, Prifti Park is not actually a park. In order to make upgrades, it must be declared such and come under official control of the Park and Recreation Commission.
Park and Recreation Commission Chairman Kelly Magni, Buildings and Grounds Manager John Westcott, and the Board of Selectmen met this week to discuss the progress of the designation of the park.
Land surveyor Steve Salvini of Salvini Associates Land Surveyors of Chester and Westfield presented plans recently, outlining his findings regarding the park’s boundaries. What he found is a bit confusing, with private ownership overlapping town land.
Two abutting parcels were once owned by a resident named Raymond Griffin, who sold the parcels separately. One was sold in 1954, and then several years later the other lot was sold to the town.
The Commission was concerned that an easement at that site could be a problem.
Salvini said language in the deed states that the easement on the land, because it was owned previously by the same person, was extinguished. He added that because of a sidewalk there, he believed legally it would be considered a prescriptive easement.
“That sidewalk has been there for over 20 years,” Salvini said.
A prescriptive easement is an easement upon another’s real property acquired by continued use without permission of the owner for a period provided by state law to establish the easement.
Magni was at the selectmen’s meeting for guidance on next steps.
“We’ve had it surveyed, it was sent to the town attorney, and we are at the point of where do we go from here,” said Magni.
Magni said the commission wanted to have it declared a true park mainly to preserve the land.
“We want to make it a park so it will never be taken away,” he said. “We are basically in control of it, but it’s not our property. If we can get it as a park, we can upgrade it.”
Westcott said boundaries are a concern.
“We need to determine exactly where the park is,” he said, noting that the current equipment needs to be upgraded to be Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.
Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart the group needs to walk the property and mark it.
The board agreed and scheduled a walk-through.
“We are going to do this right,” said Selectmen Chairman Russell Fox. “We will go out and walk it – we want to make it a permanent park.”
