The Open Space Preservation Commission welcomed Interim Town Manager Elaine Lazarus to its meeting Thursday night to discuss how the relationship between the OSPC and the town can improve under her leadership as the newly appointed town manager.
The Select Board on July 9 unanimously voted to appoint Lazarus as the new town manager pending a successful contract negotiation. She has been serving in an interim capacity for the past few months while the town conducted a search for a successor to Norman Khumalo, who served as town manager for 15 years before taking a private sector job. Lazarus simultaneously is holding her position as assistant town manager and head of the town’s Land Use Department.
OSPC chair Ed Harrow began the discussion with Lazarus and commission members with information about properties the commission hoped to acquire. One, owned by Becky Canty, he described as “basically a landlocked parcel” near Fruit Street. Harrow stressed that Canty is “still interested” in working with the town on either donation or purchase of the land. An appraisal would be needed.
The property abuts the subdivision on Washington Street, he added. State-owned and Eversource properties are nearby.
Other “properties of interest” owned by Eversource, Harrow said, are off of East Main Street in the Berry Acres area that may be discussed in the future.
Member Steve Levandosky mentioned that a landowner near Duck Pond may be willing to donate a portion of a 5-acre property to the OSPC. The discussion is in its formative stages.
Harrow said he wanted to make Lazarus aware of the commission’s desires because of the tensions the OSPC experienced with the town. He said the OSPC was left out of discussions where proposed subdivisions planned to donate land as open space.
“From an open space perspective … I found working with Norman to be frustrating,” he said. “Everything was played very close to the chest; nothing was shared. I feel very in the dark.”
Member Nancy Peters echoed Harrow’s sentiment, noting that the lack of disclosure led to “missed opportunities.”
“I think we have to take into context that we’re all a team here,” added Planning Board member Jane Moran.
“I think we’re on the same page,” said Lazarus. “We have the same approach, more of an open relationship approach. So I think we can work together and hopefully get some more open space. I think we can definitely partner on things.”
She added that she was present when the OSPC was founded and values its mission.
Lazarus also offered an explanation for Khumalo’s behavior, noting that he was dealing with multiple properties of interest simultaneously.
The open space plan needs to be updated to include all properties of interest, Lazarus noted. Harrow said he was looking into using the real estate website Zillow to search for other properties on the market to add to it.
On a positive note, Lazarus said that the closing on the Colella property was scheduled to take place the previous day, bringing a longstanding wish for the town to fruition.
Pollinator garden planting events announced
Linda Chuss, the secretary of the Sustainable Green Committee, announced that a pollinator garden will be planted at the Hughes property at 192 Hayden Rowe Street on Monday, July 22, from 5-7:30 p.m. A celebration will follow. A second pollinator garden will be planted at Pratt Field on Wednesday, July 24, from 5-8 p.m.
Beforehand, Trevor Smith from Weston Nurseries will be tearing up and composting the sod at these locations in preparation for the pollinator gardens. Fences will be placed around the pollinator garden at Hughes to prevent animals from eating the plants “for the first few years at least,” Chuss said. At Pratt Field, invasive shrubs will be cleared.
Lazarus, Select Board members and members of committees with related interests were encouraged to attend the July 22 post-planting event. Congressman Jim McGovern and state Rep. James Arena-DeRosa also were invited.
Chuss noted that volunteers are welcome to participate in the plantings as well as to water the pollinator gardens from July through October.
Land Use Department administrative assistant Shannon Isaacs said the cost for the two pollinator gardens was $12,000. The money had been appropriated at the Annual Town Meeting in May. About $5,000 was spent on plants for both, she noted.
Knotweed remains an issue throughout town
Harrow said he recently sent emails to several town leaders, including Lazarus, Select Board chair Brian Herr and Planning Board chair Rob Benson on the OSPC’s role in controlling knotweed. He noted that the commission could take responsibility for “an isolated patch” but not an “infestation” like the one at the Turkey Ridge subdivision.
“Knotweed, not to mention other invasive plants, is a town-wide problem,” Harrow stressed in the email, “and strands have been distributed to every corner. In our opinion, this is a problem of such magnitude that it defies spot treatments.”
Added Harrow: “I got no response.”
Congratulations, Elaine. It’s a new era. Well done
Thank you to Ed harrow for his leadership of OSPC and to all of it’s members for their dedication and work to acquire and expand Hopkinton s Open Space.