The Parks & Recreation Department on Wednesday night agreed on plans to explore repairing fences at Carrigan Park after discussion with abutters.

Parks & Rec Director Jon Lewitus began the discussion explaining that abutters of a parking area on Marshall Avenue had raised concerns over the condition of the fence separating the lot from private property.

“The fence has deteriorated for years,” Lewitus explained.

Devin McNamara, one of the abutters, attended the meeting and provided additional context for his and other neighbors’ issues with the fence’s current condition.

“It’s fully dilapidated,” he said, noting the fence was “not even intact anymore in at least three places.”

He expressed worry over privacy in his backyard, as well as the Little League players who use Carrigan Park jumping the fence.

Another abutter, Jess Pineault, echoed McNamara’s sentiments.

“We have had children come into our yard,” she said, noting they will hop the chain-link fence to retrieve foul balls.

“There’s hazards,” added Pineault. “It’s a safety concern.”

A compounding factor of the fence’s current state is the condition of the lot, both McNamara and Pineault said. According to them, the town has graded the lot multiple times, burying part of the fence several feet.

“There’s a 6-foot part of the fence that’s now 3 feet high because of the grading,” Pineault claimed.

Lewitus told the commission that he had sourced a quote for replacing the fence entirely, noting it could cost $10,000 or more.

“We don’t have a budget line item for something this expensive right now,” he said.

McNamara stated that he would be open to contributing to the cost of the fence replacement depending on what Parks & Rec can work into its budget.

Commission members asserted that the cost of the fence should remain with Parks & Rec.

“If we own the fence, then we need to get it repaired,” said member Amy O’Donnell.

“I don’t think it should be a split cost,” newly elected vice chair Kyle Smith concurred. “If it’s the town’s fence, the town [should] fix the fence.”

Chair Dan Terry was in agreement, but said he believed that the abutters should contribute for any solution beyond a standard chain-link fence. 

Terry suggested it was worth having a conversation with Hopkinton Little League to stop its players from chasing foul balls onto private property. “They need to understand it’s not safe to do that,” he said.

Terry recommended expanding the conversation with HLL to include cleaning up construction material used to build new dugouts at the baseball fields as well, following comments from McNamara.

In regard to how and when the fence repair could be funded, Lewitus explained the money could either come out of the Parks & Rec revolving fund or as a one-time capital expense in the next fiscal year’s budget. However, both he and O’Donnell expressed a desire to get the fence repaired as quickly as possible.

Lewitus agreed to reach out to both the town manager and the town accountant to see if there were other funds Parks & Rec could utilize. He noted that a solution likely would not be available until after June 30, after the FY 26 budget kicks in.

“We will work with Jon to explore a couple of different routes on this,” Terry assured McNamara and Pineault.

Commission toys with adjusting Sandy Beach gate operation hours

During a discussion about Sandy Beach, Smith floated an idea he believed could curtail non-resident visitors to the beach.

“My thought was, for next year, we propose a budget that involves adding one additional hour [of gate operation] just to collapse the window of light time when there’s no staff there,” said Smith.

He went on to explain that in his proposal, the gate guards would leave at 6 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. This, in theory, would reduce the number of daylight hours available after regular operating hours, deterring non-resident visitors.

“It would make it more frustrating to show up and unpack your car if you’re only going to get … two hours before the sun goes down,” Smith said.

Lewitus said the current Parks & Rec budget could allow for the extended hour of gate operation. Despite commission members’ interest in enacting the policy change this year, he noted hesitation.

“I don’t know that I’m sold on pitching this,” said Lewitus.

“I love it for next year,” he added.

Lewitus’ main concern was that this year’s gate guards already had been trained and had their hours set. As well, the majority of his staff are high schoolers, and after 5 p.m. he and other supervisors would be gone for the day, leaving the gate guards by themselves.

“The people they’re turning away, they’re going to be the most combative,” Lewitus said. Incorporating the extra hour would almost be “setting them up for failure this year,” he explained.

Upon suggestion from commission members, Lewitus said he would discuss the idea with the beach supervisors and report back the results of those conversations to the commission.