Town Attorney: Conservation Commission has Jurisdiction Over 9.42 Acres

An assistant town attorney said today that the Conservation Commission has jurisdiction over 9.42 acres of town-owned land on Hoyden's Lane where a girls' Little League field is proposed.

But Eileen Kennelly said the Representative Town Meeting could change jurisdiction from the Conservation Commission to the Parks and Recreation Commission so a girls' Little League field can be built at the back of the property.

A $400,000 funding request to build the girls' Little League field is scheduled for a vote of the RTM at 8 p.m. May 24 in Osborn Hill School. The funding request, though, first has to get through the town's Board of Finance, which is scheduled to vote on it at 7:30 p.m. May 4 in the Education Center, 501 Kings Highway East.

The question of who has jurisdiction over the property became an issue when Pamela Jones and Jody Eisemann wanted to create an organic teaching farm on the front part of the property. The Conservation Commission on Thursday night punted their request over to the Parks and Recreation Commission, even though that commission doesn't have jurisdiction over the property.

Kennelly said it would be up to the RTM to determine if the Parks and Recreation Commission assumed jurisdiction over the entire 9.42 acres or just the property at the back, where the Little League field is planned.

Town recreation officials said today that the only recreation proposal now under consideration for the 520 Hoyden's Lane property is the girls' Little League field at the back and that another athletic field hadn't been proposed for the front of the property.

The RTM, when it approved a $1.5 million request to buy the property (another $300,000 came from a revolving fund in the Parks and Recreation Department's budget), created confusion by designating the property for "town purposes, including open space for active or passive use."

The RTM's designation was so vague that the Conservation Commission assumed jurisdiction over the property, as a 1999 town ordinance requires when use of a town property is undesignated.

Conservation Commission Chairman Stanton Lesser wasn't available this afternoon to say if he would support an organic teaching farm on the front of the property, but that may be a moot point if the RTM designates the entire 9.42 acres for active recreation.

The girls' Little League field never received approval from the Conservation Commission before the $400,000 funding request was approved by the Board of Selectmen and scheduled for votes by the Board of Finance and RTM.

Kennelly said the Conservation Commission could offer an opinion or thoughts on the girls' Little League field, but she didn't think the commission had to approve it before the RTM decides what to do with the property.

"Even if Conservation wanted to say something about it between now and then, I really don't think it would have an effect. I think the views of Conservation would be no more than their thoughts. I don't think they could do anything binding on the RTM," Kennelly said.

Town officials said the Little League field, if it passes the Board of Finance and RTM, likely would be named in honor of the late Selectman Denise Dougiello, an avid softball player who passed away in July 2008.

The girls' Little League field is alternately called a girls' softball field because girls in Little League play softball instead of baseball.