By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SAUGUS — Saugus is keeping an open mind about it’s green space.
Working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, town officials are developing plans to improve and maintain Saugus’ open space.
A forum for residents to voice their opinions will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Town Hall. Town Manager Scott Crabtree said business owners and public officials are also invited to attend and engage in the planning process of improving open space and recreational fields in town.
“The forum will bring light to what the community seems to value,” said Town Planner Krista Leahy. “We want to hear about what open spaces they view as priorities versus places they don’t see a vision for yet. That’s important because, while we have all these open spaces designated, some are protected, some need improvement (and) some are underutilized parks.”
Since Saugus has a lot of natural open space, the Planning and Development Department wants to hear about what areas might be underutilized, and what can be improved, expanded and created to better suit the needs of the community, she said.
As an example, Leahy said Prankers Pond has some pathways in the back, but could use improvements.
“It’s a beautiful pond,” she said. “People in town have such nostalgia for it. People have said they wish there were more level pathways or some sort of water access.”
While some already use the pond for fishing, there’s potential to attract the town’s youth for more activities, like boating, and all residents for walking, she said.
“Then there’s always Socker Playground, a park right around the river that desperately needs attention,” Leahy said. “We hope to generate some ideas and brainstorm how we could transform that space into a place people want to be.”
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With the input from the meeting and from the Open Space and Recreation Committee, the department hopes to develop a five-year plan to tackle the many open space goals of the town, she said.
The plan will serve as an update to an outline drafted in 2011, which was an update to a 2005 plan. Leahy stressed the importance of looking back at the goals that have been met and the ones that haven’t. As the demographics of the community change over the years, the priorities may change too, she said.
During the forum, attendees will split up into smaller groups to brainstorm and compile a list of ideas to share with the larger group. Handwritten suggestions can also be submitted. Once the plan is finished and submitted to the MAPC, the town’s eligibility for open space grants and matching funds will be improved, Leahy said.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte