(Sept. 14, 2017) Although a scheduling conflict prevented Berlin Falls park project coordinator David Deutsch from attending a parks commission meeting last Tuesday, commission members still spent plenty of time discussing the property.
Administrative Services Director Mary Bohlen, the staff liaison to the commission, said when Deutsch addressed the Town Council the week before, he talked about studies of the cost of remediating the ponds and rehabilitating the main building.
Bohlen said some residents interpreted the findings of the studies, two of which carried a combined price tag of $9 million, as being part of a strategy rather than an assessment of what’s there.
“When we put the mayor and council packet out, people assumed that what they were looking at was the town’s plan and that is so far from [the truth],” Bohlen said. “There are pieces of that plan that we could implement that would be very low cost and at least start getting the idea that it is a park.”
She cited signs about indigenous plant and animal life as an example.
“As far as any actual alterations or construction – there’s nothing firm,” Bohlen said. “If people are looking at [the studies] and saying where’s the skate park we were promised? Well, no it isn’t on there because there’s really nothing on there that is major work.”
Commission member Patricia Dufendach said buildings on the site, a former chicken processing plant, were not historic and could just as easily be condemned.
She added it was reassuring to know there was no imminent danger of microbiological hazards at the ponds, based on the study by EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc.
“If someone falls in, they’re not going to die of horrible skin lesions,” she said.
“These reports were the first step and all that it’s doing is giving us some sense of where the property stands,” Bohlen said. “We went into it without having any idea of what the chemical, bacterial composition of those ponds might be, so now we know.”
Bohlen went on to say it would be harder to transform the property into a park as opposed to, say, a manufacturing plant.
“Depending on what you’re planning to do with the property, it makes a difference,” she said. “If you’re building houses on it, there has to be a certain level [of remediation]. If you’re building a manufacturing plant, obviously the concerns of what’s in the ground aren’t as great.”
For the record, Bohlen said, Berlin Falls would not become a manufacturing plant.
“One of the reasons that the town purchased the property was to prevent another, similar chicken-processing plant,” she said.
Dufendach, a staunch supporter of passive uses for the park such as bird watching and building nature trails, also addressed the recent Jeep Week event, based at Berlin Falls.
According to organizers, more than 1,000 jeeps were on the property at one point and thousands of spectators attended. That left plenty of mud behind and apparently made enough of an impact that cleanup efforts have taken several weeks.
“The people of Berlin have said that they want it to be a park. That’s the message that I’ve gotten about Berlin Falls, is that they want to have a nice, forested park,” Dufendach said.
During a Town Council meeting on Aug. 28, Jeep Week organizers said they would prefer to return to Berlin Falls next year.
“I don’t know how the council will really respond. The mayor does not seem to want it,” Dufendach said. “There’s a lot of destruction – a lot of mud.”
As part of the agreement to allow Jeep Week to operate at Berlin Falls, according to Bohlen, organizers agreed to restore to property to the way they found it. As of last week, she said, they were still working to do so.
“I’m not interested in the mud, but that’s just me,” Dufendach said. “And I don’t know why the townspeople’s property should serve one person’s economic interest.
“I think that the Town Council really needs to be a little more observant and conscientious … they need to think about it a little bit more,” she added. “But this fall we get to plan for the future. That’s the idea, isn’t it? That’s what we were promised.”
Administrative Services Director Mary Bohlen, the staff liaison to the commission, said when Deutsch addressed the Town Council the week before, he talked about studies of the cost of remediating the ponds and rehabilitating the main building.
Bohlen said some residents interpreted the findings of the studies, two of which carried a combined price tag of $9 million, as being part of a strategy rather than an assessment of what’s there.
“When we put the mayor and council packet out, people assumed that what they were looking at was the town’s plan and that is so far from [the truth],” Bohlen said. “There are pieces of that plan that we could implement that would be very low cost and at least start getting the idea that it is a park.”
She cited signs about indigenous plant and animal life as an example.
“As far as any actual alterations or construction – there’s nothing firm,” Bohlen said. “If people are looking at [the studies] and saying where’s the skate park we were promised? Well, no it isn’t on there because there’s really nothing on there that is major work.”
Commission member Patricia Dufendach said buildings on the site, a former chicken processing plant, were not historic and could just as easily be condemned.
She added it was reassuring to know there was no imminent danger of microbiological hazards at the ponds, based on the study by EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc.
“If someone falls in, they’re not going to die of horrible skin lesions,” she said.
“These reports were the first step and all that it’s doing is giving us some sense of where the property stands,” Bohlen said. “We went into it without having any idea of what the chemical, bacterial composition of those ponds might be, so now we know.”
Bohlen went on to say it would be harder to transform the property into a park as opposed to, say, a manufacturing plant.
“Depending on what you’re planning to do with the property, it makes a difference,” she said. “If you’re building houses on it, there has to be a certain level [of remediation]. If you’re building a manufacturing plant, obviously the concerns of what’s in the ground aren’t as great.”
For the record, Bohlen said, Berlin Falls would not become a manufacturing plant.
“One of the reasons that the town purchased the property was to prevent another, similar chicken-processing plant,” she said.
Dufendach, a staunch supporter of passive uses for the park such as bird watching and building nature trails, also addressed the recent Jeep Week event, based at Berlin Falls.
According to organizers, more than 1,000 jeeps were on the property at one point and thousands of spectators attended. That left plenty of mud behind and apparently made enough of an impact that cleanup efforts have taken several weeks.
“The people of Berlin have said that they want it to be a park. That’s the message that I’ve gotten about Berlin Falls, is that they want to have a nice, forested park,” Dufendach said.
During a Town Council meeting on Aug. 28, Jeep Week organizers said they would prefer to return to Berlin Falls next year.
“I don’t know how the council will really respond. The mayor does not seem to want it,” Dufendach said. “There’s a lot of destruction – a lot of mud.”
As part of the agreement to allow Jeep Week to operate at Berlin Falls, according to Bohlen, organizers agreed to restore to property to the way they found it. As of last week, she said, they were still working to do so.
“I’m not interested in the mud, but that’s just me,” Dufendach said. “And I don’t know why the townspeople’s property should serve one person’s economic interest.
“I think that the Town Council really needs to be a little more observant and conscientious … they need to think about it a little bit more,” she added. “But this fall we get to plan for the future. That’s the idea, isn’t it? That’s what we were promised.”