Officials seek to streamline land management

By Matthew Bernat
Turley Publications Reporter

STURBRIDGE - With about 1,200 acres under municipal control town officials have followed the advice of Mark Twain who once said, “buy land, they’re not making it more.”
Unfortunately, the famous author had no advice on how to manage that land.
Currently, the Conservation Commission, Public Lands Advisory Committee and the Trails Committee all share similar missions regarding the use and conservation of open space.
Members from all three boards, and the town’s Conservation Agent, met with selectmen Monday night to eliminate redundancy and determine which duties to assign each board.
Conservation Commission Chairman David Barnicle challenged language in the Trail Committee’s charter that appeared to wrestle authority from the commission.
Barnicle read from a portion of the charter to illustrate his point. “The Trails Committee shall have jurisdiction over all trail related issues, policies, activities encompassing town open space and rights of way,” he read. “That violates the Wetlands Protections Act,” he said.
The act affords Conservation Commissions across the state authority to determine whether new development would violate that law.
Public Lands Advisory Committee Chairman Thomas Chamberland disagreed with Barnicle’s interpretation. Citing another passage from the Trails Committee charter, Chamberland said the committee can vote on policy, but no changes could be made without consent from the body that governs the land in question, whether it is a landowner, the town, or Conservation Commission.
“How does that usurp the authority of the Conservation Commission, or even the board of selectmen,” Chamberland asked.
Interim Town Administrator Michael Racicot noted the Trails Committee had run into problems in the past regarding their activities. He said a state forester alerted him to committee practices that were not in keeping with the law.
“The Trails Committee were doing things they should not have been doing,” Racicot said.
Chamberland noted that instance was a “lesson learned” by Trail Committee members. “It was a lack of knowledge of the appropriate laws that got us into trouble,” Chamberland said.
In an effort to avoid future conflict, and to eliminate a redundancy of duties, Erin Jacques, conservation agent, prepared a draft of a flow chart that identified a chain of command in regards to open space.
Barnicle acknowledged the Trails Committee had been making progress and lauded Chamberland and committeeman Brandon Goodwin who was also in attendance. He also commended the committee for establishing a group of reliable volunteers who always turn out for the Chamberland organized “Trail Days.”
However, Barnicle said he did not want to see the authority granted to the Conservation Commission shared with other bodies.
Selectman Ted Goodwin suggested to review the need for the Public Lands Advisory Committee, a board created when the town had first acquired a large amount of open space and had many possibilities to consider, he said.
“Committees need to be dynamic with whatever our needs are,” Goodwin said.
Selectman Thomas Creamer said the board might have erred when they created the Public Lands Advisory Committee by not first examining if other town bodies were already charged with those same duties.
Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Mary Blanchard said members of the Public Lands Advisory Committee should meet and discuss what future action they would recommend to selectmen. Both committees are set to meet May 10 to decide a course of action.