The Town of Hubbardston Open Space Committee voted unanimously to approve its final open-space plan during its regular meeting.

Mark (Open Space Committee member) circulated the final draft by email and asked for any last edits before a vote. “Any comments or minor minor edits before we,” he said, before a committee member moved to approve the plan and another seconded the motion. Committee members then voted “aye,” and a chair declared the motion unanimous.

Why it matters: committee members said updating the plan now could buy the town three extra years before the next full update. Mark told the committee that the plan “is my swan song on the committee” and announced he has resigned from the committee; he said he expects to step away for several months while remaining available to help with final tasks.

At the meeting members discussed a recently received letter that changed the required structure for open-space action plans from a seven-year to a 10-year horizon. Mark said the town’s current plan “is currently set to expire in 2031, and that would make it 2034,” and explained that revising the action-plan chapter to cover 10 years would extend the plan’s expiration by three years. Committee members discussed that adding three columns to the action table would be the primary drafting task to reflect the longer horizon.

Committee members agreed the revision would be a modest drafting task and would likely avoid a full rework. Bob (Open Space Committee member) volunteered to take the lead on preparing the required edits and the submission to the planning board for its signature. Committee members noted the plan also still requires the planning board’s signature before being finalized.

The committee discussed administrative details tied to finalizing and storing plan files. A member said they temporarily could not access the committee Google Drive because the town had transitioned some accounts to Microsoft services; the member reported speaking to town staff (Nate) to restore access and asked for a backup of documents in the short term.

The vote to approve the final open-space plan was recorded as unanimous; the motion and second were made during the meeting but the transcript did not identify the mover or seconder by full name. The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the meeting transcript.

Looking ahead: with the plan approved the committee expects to submit the final document to the planning board for signatures and, if the 10-year revision is completed in time, to secure the recommended three-year extension to the plan’s expiration. The committee scheduled follow-up work and an expectation that Bob will coordinate the revision and submission.