A social media photo taken by an unidentified Congamond Lake property owner shows a beach party on July 13 in the North Pond Conservation Area, which is supposed to be reserved for “passive recreation” such as hiking and fishing.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
SOUTHWICK — With the increasing number of complaints about improper activities at the North Pond Conservation Area over the last few months, culminating in a street brawl on July 13, the Select Board has temporarily closed the parking area, and the Conservation Commission is considering options to reduce the number of people using it for active, not passive, recreation.
When the board met on July 15, two days after the brawl on South Longyard Road in front of the conservation area’s parking lot, residents filled the Town Hall conference room during the public comment period and nearly every speaker urged the board to shut down the area until a solution was found to reduce the number of people visiting and flouting the rules.
The July 13 incident began as a group of people who had been spending the afternoon along the shore of North Pond were starting to leave the conservation area. Cellphone recordings shared widely on social media show people dancing in the parking lot, accompanied by what social media users described as very loud music.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
Several men who lived in the area had reportedly asked the group several times to lower the volume, only to have it turned back up later, according to a witness who spoke during the Select Board meeting on July 15.
The last time the men approached the group about music, a fight broke out between the revelers and the neighbors. The brawl was recorded on a cellphone and posted anonymously on Facebook. It’s not clear in the video who threw the first punch, but several members of the partying group are shown sucker-punching at least two of the neighbor men, and kicking another in the head.
At least two of the men were injured, but refused medical treatment after EMTs arrived, according to police.
Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances that led to the melee, and as of July 19, no arrests had been made.
“The place should be shut down,” said Krista Pochron, who said she lived on South Longyard Road and watched the fight between a group visiting the area and several men who live on the road. “I don’t feel safe in my home,” she said.
“It was a great idea, but it’s not working any longer … and we’re tired of it,” said Veronica Lynch, who said she lives on South Longyard Road.
The town purchased the 61-acre property, which includes the last undeveloped shoreline on North Pond, in 2019. The $4 million cost was borne by local taxpayers as well as the Franklin Land Trust and the state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
The lake advocacy group Citizens Restoring Congamond was one of the organizations that lobbied the town to make the purchase. Michelle Pratt, president of Citizens Restoring Congamond, held back tears as she spoke to both the Select Board and the Conservation Commission at their July 15 meetings.
“With everything we did to preserve this property, and to see the things going on over there now, and has been going on for a while, is devastating, but it has come to a head,” she said, adding that she was “heartbroken” with what had been going on there.
Susan D’Amours, who said she lived on South Longyard Road, said initially she was eager to have parkland open to everyone, “but now it’s scary. We’re all for closing this place, sad to say.”
Select Board Chair Jason Perron agreed with those speaking.
“Until we fix this, it has to be shut down,” he said, adding that if the town had the money, putting “boots on the ground” for enforcement in the area would be his solution.
However, completely shutting down the conservation area would violate the restriction placed on the property by the state when it helped fund the purchase in 2019. That was pointed out by Select Board member Douglas Moglin and resident Joanne LeBlanc. Both said residents needed to read the conservation restriction on the property, which only allows passive recreation like hiking, hunting, trapping, fishing, birdwatching or snowshoeing, and mandates that it be open at all times to the general public.
The board voted unanimously to temporarily close the conservation area’s parking lot and ban parking for at least a half mile in both directions along South Longyard Road.
When the Conservation Commission started its meeting, its members immediately began discussing the incident and what steps the commission might take to ensure the area remains open, but for passive recreation only.
“Some things are out of our control, but we need to get a better handle on certain things,” Commission member Christopher Pratt said during the July 15 meeting.
“The alcohol thing is a big thing,” Christopher Pratt said later.
“A little bit of deterrence would be nice … some kind of thing to stop people” from breaking the rules of the conservation area, commission member Dennis Clark said, adding later that “enforcement is the key.”
“Give them a fine or penalty, or something,” Clark said.
Christopher Pratt agreed.
“There needs to be the enforcement part. We have rules, but the enforcement needs to do a little more,” he said.
He also said there is distinction between rules and laws.
“Enforcement has to happen, but we have to have some teeth for some of these rules to allow enforcement,” Christopher Pratt said, later suggesting new town bylaws that would formally prohibit jumping from trees, hanging rope swings in trees, campfires, camping, and bringing glass into the conservation area.
“But it has to go through a process,” he said, which means any bylaws would have to be approved by Town Meeting.
When town Conservation Coordinator Sabrina Pooler updated the commission on the plan to cut down three trees in the conservation area that have been deemed hazardous because of prohibited rope swings, Christopher Pratt said the trees might be dropped along shoreline in the water, or perhaps on the cleared area known as King’s Beach, to discourage people from using that area. It was a suggestion that Moglin also made during the board meeting.
The Select Board also planned to meet July 22 to continue its discussion. One option discussed July 15 was to make the parking ban along South Longyard Road permanent, and to reduce the size of the parking area.
