Great Barrington — The town this Wednesday (November 4) will host the first of several community forums meant to come up with solutions and consensus about the Lake Mansfield Recreation Area.
It is the crumbling Lake Mansfield Road that has ignited the issue, since the town — before it begins to fix it — wants to first know how residents want to use the entire area that includes the 29-acre lake, the boat launch, the popular road for fishing, running and walking, the beach, and the nearby 29-acre forest with trails.
Last year, the town had engineering firm Tighe & Bond come up with several options it presented to the public and town boards. None were cheap. But the most inexpensive way was to do a normal paving job that the engineers and the Department of Public Works said won’t last very long. There was the suggestion of closing the road altogether, or making it a one way.
Safety has long been a concern; the road is a shortcut between Christian Hill Road and the Castle Hill neighborhood, Fairview Hospital and beyond. Fencing and a speed bump near the swimming beach were installed several years ago, but the two-way road is narrow, not only for the roughly 560 cars and trucks traveling it per day, but for all who use it by foot or bike.
And there are environmental issues like drainage and runoff into a delicate habitat area that is protected by the Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act.
Lake Mansfield Improvement Task Force Chair Christine Ward told the forum that the various options for repairing the road trigger elaborate and expensive environmental permitting, and the possible solutions create other potential problems.
Town Planner Chris Rembold says the town is taking a new, “comprehensive approach” to solving the puzzle, using the planning funds voters approved at the last Annual Town Meeting.
“Those options before were purely engineering options,” Rembold said. “People weren’t really seeing the full picture…it’s a beach, a picnic area, a boat launch, a parking lot and a road. Changing one thing impacts another.”
To help sort it out the town brought the Boston-based Kyle Zick Landscape Architecture into the mix. Their consultants will be at Thursday night’s forum.
“They’re very good at public facilitation,” Rembold said. “They’re good at designing parks and planning for recreation areas, and they have engineering and environmental consultants who work with them.”
Rembold launched a web survey for people who can’t come Thursday night. He also hopes to record the forum or stream it on CTSB-TV.
“We want a broad overview of what people value at the recreation area,” he said. “What do we need to focus our energy and our dollars on? It might or might not be the road.”
“It’s important to come,” Rembold added. “There’s nothing like an interactive conversation with your neighbors.”
The first Lake Mansfield community forum will be held Wednesday, November 4, 7 p.m. at Crissey Farm, 426 Stockbridge Road. To take the web survey, click here.
