Select Board hears Open Space & Recreation Working Group's 2023 Progress Report

The Select Board appointed members to the Open Space & Recreation Working Group (OSRWG) in September 2022 in order to execute the Action Plan of Lynnfield's 2022 State approved Open Space & Recreation Plan. 

At the Monday March 11, 2024 Select Board meeting, OSRWG's Amy MacNulty and Rich Kosian presented the Group's 2023 progress report and goals for 2024.

Click here to see the full PowerPoint presentation.

Background:

At its heart, the Open Space Plan represents what residents want for open space in their community. The Plans’s goals and objectives are then laid out to execute them. In 2018, Lucy Madden spearheaded a town-wide survey, the results which were presented at a public forum. Resident feedback about Open Space was largely consistent with feedback from the 1998 and 2010 Open Space Plans, the goals of the 2002 Master Plan, and echoed again in the 2017 town-wide Planning Board’s Master Plan Steering Committee’s town-wide survey. Consequently, the Open Space & Rec Committee feels extremely confident that the goals and objectives of this Open Space Plan reflect the desires of the community.

The Plan’s 5 overarching goals for Open Space are:

• Increase public awareness of natural resources and conservation areas through education, site tours, posting on the Town’s website, and through social media
• Provide a range of recreational opportunities for all residents
• Manage, maintain, and improve existing open space. Promote this space and make it accessible to the public for appropriate use
• Acquire new open space to preserve Lynnfield’s character, protect drinking water supplies and meet passive and active recreation needs.
• Ensure the protection of important wildlife habitats, surface waters, wetlands and other critical natural resources and scenic landscapes