The Town of Southborough Trails Committee on Feb. 27 approved its minutes and focused its discussion on interpretive signage and mapping for the new Peninsula Trail section while staff and consultants prepare engineering and bid documents for a bridge and boardwalk expected to go to bid this spring.

The committee approved two sets of minutes by roll call before moving into project updates. A committee member said, "I move that we approve both sets of minutes." The motion passed unanimously in the roll call: Will Warren — yes; Satyanda Sharma — yes; Kat McKee — yes.

Committee members said Phase 1 work on interpretive signage is next while paving is delayed by winter weather. The chair said the group has reached out to a contact from a trails conference, David Weeden, and expects resources on Native American history to help populate signage. The chair also described using AllTrails for initial map drafts and suggested supplementing those drafts with a professionally produced PDF suitable for kiosks and the town website. "AllTrails is an app that's used... people use it to navigate on trail while on trail," the chair said.

On Phase 2 — engineering for a bridge and boardwalk — committee members reported that Beals & Thomas is preparing bid documents and that the water/agency referenced as MWA has asked engineering consultants for sketches and calculations on bridge height relative to the flood plain. Committee members said those calculations are pending and that bid documents are intended to be ready for release in March pending sign-off. The chair said, "Once we have sign off from MWA, we should be in pretty good shape. This should come out in March."

Members flagged schedule dependencies: the town's annual Town Meeting is April 7, and committee members noted the weeks leading up to that date will be busy. The chair reminded members there are legal public-notice requirements tied to the bidding process and said she will notify town staff (Melanie, Mark and Travis) so timelines align with town procedures.

Committee members discussed paving timing for the Peninsula Trail and related sections. According to committee remarks, paving will not proceed while temperatures remain low; the chair said paving typically requires sustained daytime temperatures above 40 degrees and that the work is likely to occur in the spring quarter (April–May 2025) rather than Q1. "That's gonna be when the temperature is above 40 degrees," the chair said.

Mapping and accessibility were discussed at length. Members suggested pursuing both a high-quality PDF map for kiosks and an interactive, phone-accessible map layered into Google Maps or similar platforms to assist users and people with visual impairments. The committee reviewed options including exports from AllTrails and Gaia, and discussed using Google Maps’ suggestion/edit features to add or correct trails. One member described the Sudbury Reservoir Trail and Burrows Loop as existing examples of interactive mapping the committee could emulate.

Other items: the committee reported an outstanding DCR MOA work-plan item (a maintenance plan) that was assigned to a committee member identified as Tom; members agreed to have that returned for action at the next meeting. The committee also said it is following up on volunteer recruitment from a form submission and will address candidate interest at the next meeting.

Before adjourning, a committee member moved to end the meeting and a second was recorded; the roll call vote was unanimous (Will Warren — yes; Satyanda Sharma — yes; Kat McKee — yes). The committee set its next regular meeting for March 13 at 7:30 p.m.

The meeting discussion established next steps (finalize bid documents and public notices, collect map data/exports for a professional map, and return the DCR MOA maintenance plan), but no formal policy beyond the motions to approve minutes and adjourn was adopted.