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Conservation trust wins Select Board authorization to apply for MassTrails design grant
Summary
The Dennis Conservation Land Trust asked the Select Board to sign authorization forms for a MassTrails grant application to design a 2'3 mile accessible trail network; the board authorized the chair to sign and signaled support for the application pending grant award.
Kat Garifoli, speaking for the Dennis Conservation Land Trust, asked the Select Board to sign property-owner authorization and conservation-restriction authorization forms so the trust can apply for a MassTrails planning and design grant.
Garifoli said the trust is purchasing 13.45 acres adjacent to the Plashers Conservation Area and hopes to design a 2'3 mile trail network with a quarter-mile boardwalk through an Atlantic white cedar swamp, parking, and accessible trail surfaces. The MassTrails grant would fund planning, design and permitting (up to $100,000) and requires a 20% match; the trust said it would provide the match and requested no town funding.
Board member discussion praised the property and the proposal; one member who had previously walked the site described it as feeling like "a national forest." A motion to authorize the chair to sign documents necessary for the grant application passed on roll call with all members recorded as Aye. Garifoli said the trust is about $30,000 short of its overall fundraising goal, and a successful MassTrails award would strengthen a future construction grant application.
The Select Board's authorization allows the trust to complete the MassTrails application and submit it with the town's property-owner authorization forms.
