The Hancock Select Board has imposed tighter restrictions on a field previously used as a parking lot for city events after the Conservation Commission and the Harris Center for Conservation Education pointed out that the field falls under a conservation easement.
The field is used only as overflow parking during city events. Otherwise, parking is prohibited without a permit from the Select Board. The vacant field next to the Hancock Depot Cabaret, which both the city and the Depot Association have unofficially used as a parking lot in the past, was designated at a previous meeting as overflow parking for city events between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
The council assumed the property was city property based on a tax map the city had received. It directed the city’s DPW to perform some light maintenance to facilitate parking in the lot. However, due to an earlier clerical error, the property had been incorrectly marked as city property rather than a conservation easement.
The Select Board met Monday afternoon with Eric Masterson, Harris Center land program manager, as well as representatives from the Depot Cabaret and the Hancock Conservation Commission to address the situation.
Hancock Conservation Commission Chairman Stephen DiCicco acknowledged that the Select Board made an honest mistake due to an error in the paperwork. The commission wanted to maintain the easement, “but neither the Harris Center, the initiators of the easement, nor the Conservation Commission, who are the guardians of the easement, want to be ‘bad neighbors.'”
DiCicco hoped the three parties could reach a compromise.
“If we had known this was a conservation issue, we would have approached the commission to discuss it before making any decisions,” said select committee chair Ginger Smith. “But we are looking for seasonal parking options.”
Masterson stressed that it is the Harris Center’s job to comply with conservation regulations, but echoed DiCicco’s comments and hoped to reach an agreement that would benefit all parties. He pointed out that the conservation regulations include provisions that prohibit motor vehicles except in cases of forestry and recreation. He added that city events could be considered recreation.
Ultimately, the three parties agreed that both the city and the Depot Association may use the field as a parking lot only when it is overcrowded during large city events. In addition, the Select Board and Conservation Commission will draft a memorandum of understanding to use the field as a parking lot.
