Committee backs sending memo on Knowles Road/Belgrade Stream property to select board

The committee voted to send its preliminary memo about the town-owned parcel on Knowles Road at Route 135 to the select board for consideration.

The memo, summarized aloud by the Chair (Speaker 5), recommended installing signage that "members of the public may use the property at their own risk," leaving the lowland and bog on the west side mostly undisturbed, and surveying the eastern boundary to establish pins before any parking or access work is done. "Members of our committee have examined the property and would like to make the following preliminary observations and recommendations," Speaker 5 read, including coordinating any work with Friends of Belgrade Stream to address a reported milfoil infestation.

Committee discussion emphasized site constraints and maintenance burdens. Members noted a large ditch between the road and the property that would need filling or an engineered entrance for parking, and that any dock would require seasonal installation and removal. The mover, Speaker 7, proposed sending the memo under the committee's signature and inviting the select board to request further information; Speaker 2 seconded and the Chair called for a voice vote. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded.

The motion does not itself allocate funds or authorize construction; it directs staff to forward the committee's observations and recommendations to the select board and offers to provide follow-up information if requested. Committee members said the select board would need to visit the site to assess parking, boundaries and liability before any capital work could be considered.