Planning Board approves Bennett Park trail extension with conditions

MILLBROOK — Plans for extension of the Bennett Park trail system were reviewed during a public hearing and later approved unanimously by the Planning Board at its regular meeting on Monday, Sept. 8, although a few conditions were attached to the approval.

Reviewing plans during the public hearing was Richard Rennia of Rennia Engineers, who was accompanied at the meeting by Senior Planner Peter Sander.

The 600-foot trail extension will enhance public use of the 35-acre property, once the campus of Bennett College that closed its doors to students in 1978. With no activity since, the buildings fell into serious disrepair and have been demolished as plans for Bennett Park have sought to reclaim the property for town use.

The woodland trail included in the site plan was previously approved as part of Phase One of the ongoing Bennett Park project, but an amendment for an extension to an entrance off of Franklin Avenue brought the project back to the Planning Board for public hearing.

The Bennett Park project in three phases is being undertaken under the auspices of the nonprofit Millbrook Community Partnership Inc., also overseeing the renovation of the old Thorne Memorial School into a cultural, educational and civic center on Franklin Avenue.

Describing the proposed trail extension as “a walk through a wooded area,” Rennia said that the trail would be paved with pervious packed gravel to ensure good drainage as well as a relatively even walking surface. The new trail extension would lead to an internal loop paved with wood chips. The trail lies along an old roadbed that connected with Franklin Avenue. Any tree removal will be minimal.

“We are not removing significant existing trees,” Rennia explained, adding that a felled tree might become a log bench beside the trail for those wanting a respite from walking.

Planning Board chairman Frank Redl noted that there is no plan for introducing lighting to the area that would be open from dawn to dusk daily. He also asked about introducing signage at the Franklin Avenue entrance to the new trail.

Residents who spoke favored the idea of the trail extension but asked whether the deteriorated inadequate sidewalk along Franklin Avenue could be upgraded for a safe approach to the trail. That suggestion was determined to be outside of the scope of the Bennett Park project, but it could become a town project.

Rennia indicated that the next step following approval is to seek additional approval from the Department of Environmental Protection for a stream protection plan. A three-sided box culvert is anticipated to be installed along the trail to correct water flow.

Additional residents’ concerns included parking and increased traffic from visitors to the park, with one resident asking for consideration of the needs of disabled visitors, not that the area needed to be ADA-compliant but perhaps made easier for the disabled.

Following approval, Redl agreed to bring the Franklin Avenue sidewalk upgrade idea to the Board of Trustees for discussion and perhaps pursuit of grant funding.

Conditions to the approval included obtaining approval from the DEP, submission of a detailed plan for the bridge and landscaping and signage plans detailing open hours and barring of motorized vehicles.

As residents’ concerns can be further addressed within the next phase of the plans when parking and traffic will be charted, Sander stayed on after the meeting to make note of those concerns before the residents left.