The Park and Recreation Commission is planning to meet with the Recreation Center Board this month to hammer out details about the use of Whalley Park.
Park Commission Chairman Kelly Magni met with the Board of Selectmen, John and Kathy Whalley, and Rob Levesque of R. Levesque Associates June 4 to discuss the park.
Donated to the town by the Whalleys, the 75-acre park is located on Powder Mill Road and features two youth baseball fields, two soccer fields, a full-size baseball field, two volleyball courts, a playscape, bathrooms and parking for 300 vehicles. There are plans for a pavilion and stage area.
John Whalley gave the park to the town with the intention of it being used by both the Park and Recreation Department and Recreation Center, as well as the community at-large. The property is still under the ownership of Whalley, but the town will soon take over and the details of how the park will be maintained, run, scheduled, etc. are still up in the air.
The first step is getting an application in to the Community Preservation Commission for funds for the remaining items that the town would be responsible for completing.
“We don’t have an application from anybody,” said Dennis Clark of the CPC.
Magni said he would begin the application process on behalf of Parks and Recreation and would meet with the Recreation Center Board to discuss terms of use.
“We will basically get their schedule and work ours around it,” Magni said.
Questions were raised about maintenance of the park and Town Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart reminded the group that Whalley pledged to put $100,000 in a maintenance fund until the park generated its own income through user fees to cover maintenance. Selectman Russell Fox, also a member of the Recreation Center Board, mentioned that volunteers maintain the center’s fields.
Selectwoman Tracy Cesan said that while there are fantastic and skilled volunteers at the center, the number of fields at Whalley Park would be overwhelming for a group of volunteers to maintain. Magni agreed.
“You can’t do this by volunteers,” said Magni. “You can’t maintain this park with volunteers.”
Cesan said she wants to start out the right way at Whalley Park, with a maintenance plan in place.
“Maintenance needs to be addressed early on or it will cost more to the taxpayers,” she said. “The town accepted this park and we have the responsibility to fund the money to maintain the park properly.”
Levesque spoke about the projects the town would need to complete and noted that it is a shorter list than it was last time they discussed it.
“John keeps doing more projects,” said Levesque.
Most notably is the construction of two septic systems and three bathrooms, the intent to purchase a pavilion, and lack of any vertical construction to complete when the town takes over.
Levesque said the big things the town will be responsible for are field lighting and a second layer of asphalt.
“The rest is finishing touches to the fields, such as skinning the baseball fields and painting lines,” said Levesque.
The building permits have all been pulled, said Levesque, adding there should be no more architectural fees.
Levesque brought up the suggested dry sewer lines and said while they are on the list for future use, they are not needed any time soon.
“I would not recommend the dry sewer unless you really think you need it,” Levesque said.
He said to install them now would require ripping up turf that is just starting to grow, as well as asphalt, and would cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The board agreed it would not be a good use of funds and did not want to move forward on that item.
Magni said he would contact the Recreation Center Board and report back to the Board of Selectmen during a July meeting.
