Committee greenlights volunteer trail repairs and advances trail programs including Waffle Trails and bird blind rehab

The Franklin Park Open Space and Recreation Committee reviewed several volunteer-led trail projects, advanced a community wellness program tied to township trails and updated plans to digitize the township’s open-space inventory.

Trails and volunteer repairs: At the Trails Advisory Committee meeting an Eagle Scout presented a plan to replace three deteriorated benches on the yellow trail at Nagarina Pote. Committee members said the scout will dismantle the broken benches and build three new benches using fundraising and scout credits; the scout is not seeking Open Space Trust Fund money. "He's actually not seeking any funding from the Open Space Trust Fund because he has scout credits, and he did some fundraising," a committee member said. The trails committee and town staff have agreed to support the project and will help coordinate access and materials.

Bird blind rehabilitation: Committee members discussed rehabbing an existing 12-by-8-foot bird blind. A volunteer offered to rebuild walls and provide a materials list to the Department of Public Works (DPW). "Chris ... has generously offered to help us rehab the bird blind," a committee member said; DPW confirmed it is inventorying materials and will advise what must be ordered.

Waffle Trails wellness program: The committee advanced the Waffle Trails program, a mayor’s-wellness-linked initiative that will catalog a set of township trails and convert walking metrics into wellness measures. The committee plans to select about 10 trails (initially choosing 15 and narrowing to 10) and include a mix of handicap-accessible and other routes. Participants will log trail walks (via QR code or an alternate paper option) and can appear on a public leaderboard; completion recognition could include a citation at a council meeting. "We're looking to do 10 trails," a committee member said. "If you do these 10 trails... you'll get recognized at a council meeting."

Open-space inventory mapping: The committee reported progress on updating the Recreation and Open Space Inventory, a parcel-level list that will be digitized and integrated with a GIS map so users can click parcels and view metadata. Staff said the work requires verifying addresses, acreages, and block-and-lot numbers; some preserved properties comprise many small lots that staff plan to consolidate administratively where the same owner holds contiguous lots.

Ending: Volunteers will coordinate with DPW on materials and site access; staff will continue digitizing open-space parcels and prepare trail materials and QR-code pages for the Waffle Trails launch.