Greenfield Open Space Task Force holds inaugural meeting

Greenfield City Hall

Greenfield City Hall STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

Staff Writer

Published: 06-25-2024 4:08 PM

GREENFIELD — The city’s newly formed Open Space Task Force is searching for a fifth member to help manage Greenfield’s conservation and recreational spaces in line with the city’s 2021 Open Space and Recreation plan.

At it’s inaugural meeting Monday night, the task force, comprised of Chair Jonah Keane and members Marie-Francoise Hatte, Mary Chicoine and Emily Boss, met virtually to map out its goals and structure. The creation of the task force began as a priority outlined in surveys conducted in 2020 for the city’s Open Space and Recreation Plan, a document that outlines the city’s plans for climate change resiliency, open space and conservation until 2028.

The task force currently has representation from the Conservation Commission (Boss) and the Sustainable Greenfield Implementation Committee (Chicoine, Hatte and Keane). Keane noted that the task force’s fifth spot, which was held for a recreation commissioner, could not be filled. He said in an effort to keep an odd number of members on the task force, five or seven members should occupy it.

In the coming months, the task force will put out a public call for members in advance of its next meeting in September. Although any members of the public are welcome to apply, Hatte noted that individuals with experience or knowledge on topics such as conservation, recreational spaces or wildlife would make ideal candidates.

Taking up its first-ever motion, the task force voted unanimously to support the Conservation Commission’s application for a two-year EEA Planning Assistance grant alongside the Franklin Regional County of Governments, Buckland and Conway to fund mapping of the Green River corridor in order to better plan future districting, conservation efforts and hazard mitigation infrastructure.

“Maybe we can make this be an early check in terms of accomplishing something. This task force itself, because of the mission of it, seems ideally suited as a partner or participant of this,” Boss said of the EEA grant.

Additionally, Keane brought up applying for Local Acquisitions for Natural Diversity (LAND) grants from the state as a potential goal for the new task force.

“We’re thinking about the gaps of where we haven’t had the capacity to do work — one of those is protecting new conservation land and taking advantage of some of the funding sources that are out there,” Keane said. “We have not, as a community, applied for the LAND acquisition grant through the state that is available to municipalities … just because of a lack of capacity. Paired with the CPC (Community Preservation Committee), which we now have, this can put us in a situation to be moving forward with land projects with full funding.”

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The task force will meet next in September to discuss the recruitment of new members and further refine its goals.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.