SWAMPSCOTT — Town officials are creating a land use & management plan for Blythswood Estate Conservation Easement, one of only two remaining summer estates on the community’s oceanfront.
The plan continues one of the goals of the Open Space & Recreation Plan, which aims at creating maintenance programs for each of the town’s open space and recreational properties. Land use and management plans have already been created for Charles M. Ewing Woods and Harold A. King Forest, officials said.
Peter Kane, director of community development, previously said officials want to complete a plan for every park and playground in town so there’s a clear outline for what the maintenance requirements and responsibilities are for each of those spaces.
The drafted plan outlines how to best manage the Blythswood Estate Conservation Easement.
In June 2011, Frances Wilkinson, the owner of about 6.5 acres of property located at 23, 27, and 29 Littles Point Road, known as Blythswood, conveyed to the town a conservation restriction in perpetuity over the entire property. That restriction specifically includes a 10-foot easement across a portion of the property for public access, which runs along the northeastern boundary of the Blythswood property, officials said.
The plan only pertains to that public easement, and actions the town can take to maintain it, while remaining consistent with the conservation, and other relevant, town restrictions, officials said.
One of those maintenance actions is aimed at limiting public access to daylight hours and only across that portion of the Blythswood Property designated as the Blythswood Public Easement, according to the draft plan.
Another maintenance strategy is to ensure that the public use of the easement does not significantly impair the protection and preservation of the Blythswood Property, or the reasonable quiet or enjoyment of the property, according to the plan.
A third goal includes retaining the town’s primary responsibility for managing and maintaining the public access of the public easement, and for enforcing the provisions of the conservation restriction as they relate to public use of the easement, according to the plan.
Also outlined in the plan is immediate work that needs to be done for the public easement, including signage, path clearing and removal of invasive species. Longer term maintenance will include litter control and vegetation clearing, which will be coordinated by the Conservation Commission and Open Space & Recreation Commission, with help from the Department of Public Works and possible volunteer groups, officials said.
James L. Little, of Brookline, purchased the Blythswood Property in 1847, and began construction of Blythswood, which was completed in 1848. His son, Arthur Little, an architect, designed and oversaw the renovation of many of the estate homes in the immediate area, along with other notable estates on the North Shore. Arthur Little oversaw the renovation of Blythswood when he owned the property around the turn of the last century, officials said.
Officials are seeking public input and comment on the draft plan through Sept. 1. The document is available online at http://www.planswampscott.com/portfolio/open-space-land-use-management-plans/
To help with maintaining town conservation land, officials are interested in creating a “Friends of” Swampscott conservation lands group, similar to “Friends of Lynn Woods” and the “Marblehead Conservancy.” Anyone interested should contact Kane at [email protected].