SOUTHWICK — During the first meeting of the North Pond Conservation Area task force on Aug. 27, the group discussed various ways to reduce the overuse of the property, including limiting parking, improving signage, and the possibility of drafting a new bylaw to establish enforceable rules on the property.
Select Board member Diane Gale, who is leading the task force, proposed several changes to the parking area that serves the 61-acre property off South Longyard Road.
She suggested installing an electronic payment kiosk, and allowing town residents use the parking lot for free while charging out-of-town visitors; installing an automated gate at the entrance to the lot that could only be opened with a paid parking pass; and limiting the hours the parking lot is open.
Task force member and former Police Chief Kevin Bishop said the task force should consider reducing the number of spaces in the lot to four, with one designated for handicapped visitors, and closing the lot between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
The task force was created by the Select Board in response to a mid-July brawl between residents and visitors in the parking lot and South Longyard Road, and the continuing damage to the property caused by visitors to the property not following the rules.
Immediately following the brawl, which was recorded and posted to several social media sites, the board temporarily closed the property and its parking lot, and installed “no parking” signs along South Longyard Road in both directions, and in Granaudo Circle.
Task force member and current Police Chief Rhett Bannish said during the meeting that since the area was officially closed, its use has “dropped off significantly.”
The town’s Conservation Commission has approved several steps to minimize the use of the property, including limiting the parking lot to eight marked spaces, closing trails and installing fences. Conservation Commission member Christopher Pratt said enforcement was the “key” and said the task force could develop enforcement strategies.
When Bishop asked Bannish if he had the personnel and the funding for patrolling the property during the summer months, Bannish shook his head no, and said that the department has already used half of its annual ATV expense budget to patrol the property in the one month since it was closed.
Gale said that one of the solutions for funding could be charging visitors for parking and rethinking the launch and dock fees boaters pay for using the town’s two boat launches on Congamond Lake. She also suggested asking Town Meeting for additional funds to pay for enforcement on the property during the summer months.
She also said signs at the entrances to the conservation land need to be larger and “explicitly” worded to list the consequences of breaking the rules, to discourage misuse of the property. New signs would clearly state that activities like swimming, grilling food, littering, drinking alcoholic beverages, starting fires, camping, disturbing or destroying vegetation, using ATVs, and jumping into the lake from trees are strictly prohibited.
One attendee at the meeting said the task force also needs to address the people who arrive at the conservation area by boat. She said it’s not unusual to see 50 boats anchored within a few feet of the property’s shore on weekends during the summer.
Bishop suggested installing a line of buoys to discourage anchoring there. Fire Chief Richard Stefanowicz said that might be a solution to that issue. There’s plenty of other areas of lake that could be used, he said.
Gale also offered as “a good model” a bylaw that is currently being considered in Glastonbury, Connecticut, for public safety in its Cotton Hollow Preserve. Measures being debated in Glastonbury include additional signs, funding for a “park ranger,” and implementing enforceable rules against prohibited activities, including disposing of cigarettes or cigars in the preserve, and giving law enforcement officials the authority to fine $50 for a violation of any provision of the bylaw.
If the Southwick task force were to suggest a new town bylaw, it would need approval from Town Meeting.
The task force’s next meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 13, in the Land Use Room in Town Hall.
