Forty-one people logged into the Blair Square committee’s public forum held on Wednesday, February 3, 2021.  Committee chair Kevin Conley (below) called the meeting to order following the provisions of the remote meeting guidelines in place during the pandemic.

Inge Daniels of Colab Landscape Consultants along with representatives from engineering firm Beals+Thomas reviewed the proposed plan as illustrated below.

Ms. Daniels highlighted the following points about this design.  An overarching goal of the design is to make park usage safe for all.  At the same time, making the space available to more people for a variety of uses.

• Relocated Rail Trail: The Rail Trail sweeps to the west of the park to open up an Event Lawn & Plaza – taking cyclists away from the areas where people might congregate.
• Event Space & Green Space: Open Lawn and a paved Plaza provide scalable event space. New trees & shrubs, and plant beds resplendent with our famous perennial displays will supplement existing trees.
• Stacked Stone Benches offer versatile seating for groups of all sizes and separates the Rail Trail from the Event Space
• Covered Pavilion serves double-duty as a Bandshell/Performance Space & Picnic Area
• Veteran’s Memorial & Flagpole proximal to Central Street honors our Veterans & includes bench seating.
• Parking along Front Street supplements Rail Trail parking being provided on the north side of Central Street.

The image below represents the welcoming look of this ‘town common’ look and feel as visitors approach Blair Square from the south.

Blair Square committee member Shaw Lively (below) acted as moderator inviting citizen input.

Parking was the number one topic of conversation.  Neighboring property owners expressed the desire for well-marked spaces that don’t impinge on their properties.  Robert Weidknecht of the Trail Committee mentioned there is a parcel of land along Railroad Street, adjacent to the trail that might be purchased by the Town for more nearby parking.  The Municipal Parking lot and the new parking near Casey’s are convenient.

Waste removal was next.  Trash pick-up at the Square has been formalized thanks to a High School group called the Pick-it-Up Club who will be emptying the newly placed trash receptacle through the end of the school year.  Plans are underway to have the Town take over trash removal after that.  Dog wastes bins are emptied by a volunteer.  Gretchen Rice of the Friends of Holliston Trails indicated that this new volunteer has replaced the many years of volunteer service from R&R Landscaping.

Keeping the area environmentally friendly was important to some participants.  Paving materials that are pervious, native plants, pollinator-friendly plantings all were suggested.  There is even a discreetly located port-o-potty pad for use when special events take place at the Square.

The committee will work in tandem with the Select Board’s Front Street plan as the two initiatives complement one another.

Mr. Lively thanked the public for its input which the committee will digest.  Also, he encouraged continued input via the survey (below).

Blair Square Survey – Open until Feb. 24th

Mr. Conley wrapped up by stating that Committee has completed the charge it received in August 2017.  The Committee’s next step is to present their plan to the Select Board at its February 8^th meeting.  Direction on the Committee’s future commission will come from the Select Board.  If the project moves forward, it will be a multi-step process requiring significant funding.

The Committee meeting adjourned at 8:10pm