GREENFIELD — Before the Open Space Task Force starts kicking its goals into gear, the Sustainable Greenfield Implementation Committee invited residents to make their voices heard on the priorities guiding the group.
The Open Space Task Force was established two years ago as a subcommittee of the Sustainable Greenfield Implementation Committee (SGIC), with volunteer representatives from the SGIC, the Conservation Commission, the Recreation Commission and other city residents.
The group grew out of the city’s Sustainable Greenfield Master Plan. During the SGIC event on May 19, Planning Director Ella Wise described the Master Plan as a “shared guide for city policies, programs and investments” that “translates values and priorities of the people who live, work and play in Greenfield into action.”
Wise noted that the “menu of actions” in the updated land use and natural, historic and cultural resources sections of the Master Plan recommends the creation of an open space committee dedicated to addressing these areas.
Among the many focuses of the Master Plan, Wise highlighted accomplishments in these two categories, including the adoption of the Community Preservation Act, which has funded hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of projects in Greenfield, including the Greenfield Public Library’s local history collection, signs for local trails, community gardens, and improvements at Fiske Avenue and the Greenfield Skate Park.
Wise also mentioned zoning bylaw changes in line with the Master Plan’s goals, including bylaws encouraging “low-impact development strategies” designed to manage stormwater through landscaping and green infrsastructure.
Jonah Keane, Task Force chair and SGIC member, shared that the Task Force analyzed the city’s Open Space and Recreational Plan to parse out its own priorities.
To check out these goals for themselves, attendees walked through several stations in the John Zon Community Center with information on these ideas, ranging from land conservation to pollinator-friendly spaces, trail mapping and maintenance, and uses for a city-owned lot on Deerfield Street.
Task Force member Patricia Serrentino’s station displayed a map outlining conservation areas in Greenfield. She listened to input from residents on the areas they use and aspects of the parks they enjoy or wish the city would improve.
For Serrentino, public input on land conservation is both critical and common sense.
“It’s [residents’] parks, and they pay taxes to pay for those parks, to pay for maintenance of trails, so we should get the input from people rather than just those of us on the committee,” Serrentino said.
Nearby, Nancy Hazard’s station focused on the critters that pollinate Greenfield’s land, specifically “pollinator possibilities,” as Hazard described it.
According to Serrentino, creating more welcoming spaces for pollinators like bees, butterflies, bats and birds would not only benefit these animals — “it’s the whole food chain that they support,” she said.
On the Task Force, Serrentino hopes to make the city more pollinator-friendly and start boosting Greenfield’s biodiversity in the process, a change she said can start in residents’ backyards.
Next to Hazard, Greenfield resident Susan Conger used an orange sticker to mark the priorities she believes are most important for the Task Force’s work in land conservation, choosing between wildlife corridors, land “adjacent to other conserved land,” land stewardship opportunities, farming or “agro-forestry,” and an open spot for ideas.
As a Greenfield resident, Conger decided to join the SGIC event to learn more about the city’s work in conservation, a topic she cares about.
“If we lose the land and water that we love, we’re not going to get more land and water, so we need to take care of it,” Conger said.
Before residents broke out to explore the stations, Keane informed the attendees that their insights will help “determine where [they] go” as a Task Force.
“It’s so nice to see people come out and share input,” Keane said later as he watched the roughly 30 participants chat about next steps. “People care in this community.”
