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The Community Preservation Committee (CPC) recently voted to support a project that would study and design an improved, wider driveway for Parkinson Field, as it is currently one lane in and out. Once it had their support, they submitted an article for the warrant for Annual Town Meeting.
Projects that apply to the CPC go through a fairly rigorous vetting process and, if approved, draw on a specific funding source (Community Preservation Act revenues and reserves) that can only be used for specific types of projects. However, they still need to make it through Town Meeting. The original CPC application is here, but please note the project details evolved over the course of the CPC meetings, and resulted in the final article you can review on page 60 here.
While the project got support from the Community Preservation Committee, more recently the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee (CIAC) and the Finance Committee voted not to recommend approval of the article to Town Meeting. The CIAC voted against the article, 2-4. The Finance Committee voted against it 2-5.
Some residents may be unfamiliar with Parkinson Field, as it is tucked behind Ti Sales on Hudson Road, near the intersection with Peakham Road. It is used regularly for ultimate frisbee, but other sports are played there according to comments in various committee meetings. Notably, the field is also an access point for the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.
Here’s the parcel, with the itty bitty driveway at the south side of the parcel, outlined in yellow:
And here is the satellite view:
The proposed project, according to the warrant article, would primarily seek to evaluate and design a wider driveway at a cost of no more than $100,000:
“These requested funds will be used to hire the appropriate consultants to conduct a survey of the driveway access, determine the extent and type of wetlands (it has been suggested that there are wetlands located to the east of the driveway, not just west of the driveway), work with town staff to determine whether an 18 foot wide, two-lane driveway can be designed and engineered, permitted, and, eventually reconstructed.”
CPC Report, page 60
Deliberation among the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee and the Finance Committee was not contentious, but the votes were not unanimous either, and a range of perspectives have been voiced by various committee members. Support for the article seemed to center on the inadequacy of the current driveway and the imminent opening of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, while opposition pointed to the need for a broader, long-term plan for fields across Sudbury. More specifically, the Town is expected to begin an Open Space and Recreation Plan and a Field Needs Assessment, both of which were part of a CPC article that passed at a prior town meeting. Again, perspectives varied rather dramatically across committees and members.
While the Firearms Safety Business Use Bylaw and MBTA Communities compliance are expected to be the hot button issues at Annual Town Meeting, it appears the Parkinson Field driveway could be in the running stir up some debate as well.
Capital Improvement Advisory Committee deliberation at 10:00.
Finance Committee deliberation at 1:21:00.