Warwick Open Space Plan Committee Update 

The Warwick Open Space Plan Committee has been meeting weekly this month
to complete the Goals and Objectives and finish work on the Five Year
Action Plan.

You are invited to review the Five-Year Action Plan and Maps of the 2009
Warwick Open Space and Recreation Plan on Wednesday October 14, 2009
from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Warwick Town Hall located at 12 Athol
Road in Warwick Center.  Refreshments will be served.

An Open Space and Recreation Plan is a short to medium range plan (5 to
10 years) that articulates a community's vision for how residents want
to protect open space, and as a result, direct growth.  An Open Space
and Recreation Plan identifies how development has occurred in the past
and tries to determine what are the most appropriate actions to protect
our landscape and provide for outdoor and recreation needs.

At the public forum you will have a chance to look at several maps (and
correct them if we have mis-identified something).  These maps include
priority habitats, geologic and archeological places of historic
interest, watersheds.  There will be time during the forum to comment on
the maps and make corrections or ask questions.  The Five Year Action
plan will be presented as our idea of what the town should be focused on
accomplishing in the next 5 years.  Hopefully residents of the town will
take the time to attend and have the interest to straighten out our
thinking if we are headed in a wrong direction for that is the primary
purpose of this public forum.  We are going to show you what we propose
and you can guide us if we are on the wrong track, or you can recommend
things that we have not thought of.  Your comments can be made at the
Forum or you can contact any one of us privately after the Forum.

Some of our actions in Warwick's Five-Year Action Plan, as judged by the
Warwick Open Space Planning Committee, are the following:

*	Ensure the inventory of ecological, historical, and recreational
resources is complete.
*	Maintain a rapport with local land trusts.
*	Develop a plan for establishing a social gathering place for youths
and seniors. 
*	Map the extent of invasive species and develop a prioritize
elimination program.
*	Encourage small business development without detracting from
Warwick's rural character.
*	Study the feasibility of transferring authority of Town-owned open
space to the Conservation Commission.
*	Encourage more fire ponds and establish dry hydrants for improved
fire protection
*	Determine the best process for assigning the Town's
right-of-first-refusal to a third party if appropriate (when a Chapter
61, 61A, or 61B parcel is put up for sale).
*	Develop a policy to make it easier to deal with beaver problems.
*	Develop programs that encourage youths to become more active in
resource protection by mapping hiking trails and significant sites.
*	Develop a Warwick Trail Map.
*	Assess specific facilities and programming needs of Warwick seniors.

Copies of the Draft Warwick Open Space and Recreation Plan Goals and
Objectives and Five Year Action Plan are available at the Warwick Town
Hall and the Free Library.  All feedback on the Open Space Plan will be
incorporated into the final published version.  If you have any
questions at all, please call Ted Cady (978) 544-6410 or Mary
Williamson, Chair of the Open Space Committee (978) 544-7133.