You don't know what you've got til it's gone.

Earlier today while casting about for information on the town property where Seacoast United seeks to build its supermarket sized indoor soccer palace in an area not zoned for it, I came across this little tidbit (Word 2010 doc, PDF here) relating to the administration of the land abutting its proposed fiefdom: Hedgehog Mountain. The document is entitled "Hedgehog Hill Mountain Area Trails Maintenence and Management Plan". It was presented to the Conservation Commission at its November 15th meeting. It bears no date, and its authorship is unacknowledged, so its recommendations' source is impossible to determine. Commission members say it was presented by the Town planner, who has a vision apparently not entirely at all in accord with the Conservation Commission, whose remit by ordinance it is to act as custodian of this property on behalf of the town. Here is their plan, as adopted in 2004 (Word 2003 doc, PDF here). The former document would presumably replace the current one in force as the guiding plan for Hedgehog in the future. Some excerpts:

"The acquisition of the Hunter Rd property and the development of the athletic fields in 2011 creates a new opportunity to expand the existing trails to include this new property.  A small group of residents and trail enthusiast[s] that are very familiar with the property have developed a plan to maintain and upgrade some trails and to build new trails. 

So a "small group's" privately developed plan trumps that of the body charged by ordinance with developing such a plan with public input. For property acquired by the town through public bond issues for the expressed purpose of quiet enjoyment of open spaces by its users. Right. The small group's not through yet.

"The trails are currently managed and maintain by the volunteers of the Conservation Commission.The Conservation Commission is also responsible for managing and maintaining all of the other trails and woods owned by the Town.  Given the size and number of trails on this property, it is recommended that the responsibility of the land and trails on these properties not be that of the Conservation Commission.  This would require an amendment to the Conservation Commission Ordinance.

Instead a new committee such as the “Friends of Hedgehog Mountain Area” (FOHMA) be formed.[sic]  This group should be part of or at least very closely associated with any group that is formed to oversee the management and maintenance of the athletic fields on Hunter Road. The responsibilities and budget for that group are recommended to be the following:" [snip]

Read the whole thing to see what a new committee (presumably made up of the aforementioned "small group") has in mind.

This unsigned presentation on behalf of unidentified and non-public actors staging a power grab against a duly appointed Town commission established by ordinance is disturbing, to say the least. It seems some in town disagree with the Conservation Commission's understanding of the trust it is charged with. Fine. Let them present their views to the Commission for its consideration. It's rather unseemly to suggest that the right way forward if the Commission disagrees with one special group's outlook is to remove from the Commission's charge the care of the lands it was created to preserve for all of the Town's residents, regardless of that group's self-declared familiarity with the property. What's next? "Friends of Florida Lake"? "Pals of Wolfe Neck"? "Supporters of Sandy Beach"?  We need a Town Government that balances interests and builds consensus. Not one that throws out processes and ordinances because they don't accomodate the shiniest new toy on display.

Rumor has it this may be on the Council's December 6th agenda. If you can find a moment to speak out in favor of quiet enjoyment of our public spaces, come on down and tell the Council to let the Conservation Commission conserve our public lands.