Southwick Open Space Committee Questions Whether New Recreation Plan Body Will Be Permanent

SOUTHWICK -- April 28, 2026, Southwick's Open Space and Land Management Committee questioned whether a newly established Open Space and Recreation Plan Committee will be a permanent body rather than the temporary ad hoc committee members say they had been told to expect. At the April 28 meeting, member Martha Kane cited adopted scope documents stating the OSRPC "shall remain active through completion and state approval of the plan and ongoing implementation and annual review of the 10 year action plan", language she said conflicts with prior representations that the committee would dissolve once a revised plan was approved. Chair Connor Fleury agreed to seek written clarification from coordinator Diane Gale on that question, on whether the plan will run 10 years rather than the town's historical seven, and on which committee, the existing OSLMC or the new OSRPC, bears responsibility for overseeing implementation. Kane warned that a delay in standing up the OSRPC, whose membership is still not fully seated, raises a realistic risk that no draft plan will reach the state by December 2026, potentially freezing grant applications for the Agricultural Commission, Parks and Recreation, and Economic Development in the interim. The committee also unanimously approved March 31 minutes, accepted a condensed nine-question OSRP public survey draft from Phil Price, and confirmed that a Resource Determination Application for a three-phase planting program at North Pond has been submitted to state DEP with payment confirmed.