EASTHAMPTON — The city is seeking input on its trail plans for land on East Street as it prepares to apply for additional state funding for the project.
One of the two adjoining parcels that make up the property is owned by the Kestrel Land Trust, while the other was purchased by the city. The city contributed to the purchase of both parcels, paying $380,000 in Community Preservation Act money and using a $400,000 Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities grant from the state. Pascommuck Conservation Trust has also contributed to the effort.
The city is looking to build trails on the property, totaling 22 acres, which can provide a public access point to Mount Tom, while the Kestrel Land Trust parcel contains Little Mountain. To help pay for the project, the city will seek a second Parkland Acquisitions grant, the application deadline for which is July 15.
Easthampton City Planner Jeff Bagg said a meeting to discuss a trail system with interested parties earlier this month via the videoconferencing application Zoom went very well, with 42 participants. Now, the city is reaching out to residents with a survey that will be open through May 1.
“Not everybody can or wants to access Zoom,” said Bagg.
The trail system is being designed by local landscape architecture firm Dodson & Flinker for the city and its partners to serve three groups, Bagg said: dedicated hikers, families with children who want to take a moderate hike, and the handicapped.
For dedicated hikers, the plan is to provide a public access point to the New England Scenic Trail, he said. For families, the goal is to provide a moderate hiking loop on the property up to Little Mountain, while a portion of the trail system will be accessible to people with disabilities.
The survey asks respondents to choose between two main trail options: a shrub-meadow maze and a woods walk trail.
The property includes the former site of a house, and five options have been proposed for how to utilize it, ranging from a simple meadow to an event space with a natural amphitheater. Another option would sculpt small mounds into the earth, which would allow children to play on them.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.