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Parks and public spaces policy draft done

(April 27, 2017) A policy drafted by the Berlin Naming Parks and Public Spaces Committee last Thursday is likely to go to the mayor and council at their May 8 meeting, Town Administrator Laura Allen said this week.
Allen is the staff liaison to the committee of councilmembers Zackery Tyndall and Dean Burrell, Arts and Entertainment Chairwoman Heather Layton, Parks Commission Chairman Mike Wiley, Historic District Commission Chairwoman Carol Rose and resident Bill Todd.
The draft employs naming policies from several other municipalities that were discussed and winnowed down during four meetings over the last two months.
“The committee reviewed the policy and made a few changes [last Thursday],” Allen said. She sent the committee members an updated version reflecting their changes on Friday morning.
“They voted to go ahead and send the policy over the mayor and council … with those changes,” she said.
“I think [the policy] makes it very clear how the town goes about naming and renaming town property,” she said. “It identifies items subject to the policy and makes it very clear what items are not subject.”
Town, county, state and federal roads and highways are among those excluded from the plan, Allen said.
“I think it’s a very straightforward policy,” she said. “I think it’s going to make things a little easier going forward and it provides some opportunity for public input in a couple of ways, which I think addresses a large amount of the community’s concerns.”
The full text of the policy will be available in the meeting packet for the May 8 Town Council meeting, Allen said. The packets will be available May 5.
Although not a certainty, Allen said the likelihood the council would adopt the policy was high.
“I can’t speak for the mayor and council, but I think that they will be comfortable with the policy.” Allen said. “We had two council members on the committee and that always bodes well for the likelihood of that document being a reflection of the council’s wishes.
“If it’s not something that reflects what they really want to accomplish, then they’ll make some changes to it,” she added.