The Hollow Open Space “Improvements”

Gordon believes that communication with the villagers is the number one job of a town councilor

This past Thurs­day evening, Gor­don Starr called a meet­ing to at the Stur­gis Library where Town of Barn­sta­ble archi­tect Mark Mari­nac­cio pre­sent­ed the plans for “improv­ing” The Hol­low”. The town’s Com­mu­ni­ty Preser­va­tion Com­mit­tee has slat­ed a $162,000 com­mit­ment to this “open space” project. The town coun­cil will vote on appro­pri­at­ing these funds at Thurs­day’s (8/15/19) town coun­cil meeting.

The more than thir­ty atten­dees were con­cerned about the plans. After much dis­cus­sion and the over­whelm­ing sen­ti­ment that “The Hol­low isn’t bro­ken, so please don’t fix it”, atten­dees large­ly agreed that improve­ments to the turf, updat­ing of the ball field mate­ri­als, and hand­i­cap access improve­ments would like­ly be good for The Hollow.

In Gor­don’s words…

Thanks for com­ing out to lis­ten and share your mem­o­ries and visions for The Hollow. 

I orga­nized this meet­ing to assure that we learn about this project before it is final­ized, and I think we have a sense of how to pro­ceed.  On Thurs­day, August 15th, the Town Coun­cil will have a hear­ing and a vote about approv­ing funds to improve The Hollow. 

My read­ing of our group is that there is  gen­er­al sup­port for improve­ments, but it is imper­a­tive that we have a seat at the table as the plan is final­ized.  We sup­port this appro­pri­a­tion with the under­stand­ing that the com­mu­ni­ty will be involved in the devel­op­ing of the final plan.

The Town Coun­cil meet­ing will start at 7pm at Town Hall.  There are two chances to speak.  There is a time ear­ly in the agen­da for any cit­i­zen to speak dur­ing pub­lic com­ment time. … If you can not make it, you can go on the Town of Barn­sta­ble web site and email the Town Council.

Thanks again for your pas­sion and will­ing­ness to step up.If you have any thoughts or ques­tions, please email me at starrbarnstable@gmail.com

Gor­don Starr