News

Plans for an improved Old Colony Way, more downtown parking and an extended bike path got the go-ahead from the Board of Selectmen this week.
After a lengthy discussion Wednesday, June 20, selectmen unanimously approved plans for the former Fales Oil site and Old Colony Way.
Officials called the plans a compromise between those who wanted more downtown parking and others who called for more green space.
The town acquired the Fales Oil site 13 years ago for non-payment of taxes, torn down the old building and has had several proposals for its use including as auctioning it off, building a parking lot and selling it to the now Massachusetts Music & Arts Society.
A couple years ago, the Fales Oil Site Committee was convened and recommended turning the site into a park, a plan the selectmen endorsed.
Last year, state Rep. Jay Barrows, R-Mansfield, helped the town get a $50,000 grant to renovate the site into a park.
Selectmen expressed concern with the need for more parking downtown and decided to only turn a portion of the site into a park for now.
The most recent plan came out of the Ad Hoc Downtown Committee working with the Department of Public Works.
The plan would redo Old Colony Way which runs behind North Main Street businesses such as Town News, Jimmy’s Pub and Advantage Appliance, according to Ad Hoc Downtown Committee member Walter Wilk.
The new way will have redesigned parking on both sides, creating an additional 28 spaces. Improved lighting would be added.
A parking lot with 26 spaces would be created on the undeveloped section of the Fales site.
The completed project would have a total of 133 spaces.
The bike path which now runs from Court Street through the street towards Samoset Avenue, would be moved to run along the side of the street where the Fales site park is. The new multi-use path would be 10-feet wide and end where Old Colony and North Main meet. Eventually the path will be extended to the train station.
Several residents spoke in favor of keeping the entire Fales site as a park.
North Main Street resident Katie White asked the selectmen to include some of the elements proposed last year for the new Fales park such as picnic tables.
Resident Matt Donnelly, who served on the Fales Site committee, collected 150 signatures on a petition asking selectmen to defer their vote on adding parking spaces to the former Fales Oil site until town completes work on Old Colony Way and the bike path. The petition also stated “the Fales Oil site should be used primarily as a gateway to Mansfield via the bike path and as the cornerstone of a business-friendly, pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly greenway stretching through downtown Mansfield.”
“I wanted Mansfield’s leaders to take a step back and think about the bike path, the Fales park, downtown greenway and economic development together,” Donnelly said. “A singled-minded focus on parking, to the exclusion of everything else, is a mistake. Parking is just one piece of a bigger picture.”
Others supported the plan.
“It’s a win-win for Mansfield,” said former selectman Doug Annino.
“This is an amazing plan,” said Tom Delmar, trustee for Jackson Court condominiums. “It will make the area look great.”
Delmar did add he felt the need for more downtown parking was “overstated.”
Selectmen and Wilk said the town has several green spaces downtown such as the North and South commons, Fultons Pond and Memorial Park, but suggested more efforts to connect them and improve signage.
Wilk, also a member of the Finance Committee, said improving Old Colony Way would help downtown businesses and protect the town’s tax base.
“It sends a message to downtown businesses that they have been heard,” Wilk said. “It’s not 100 percent parking. It’s not 100 percent park.”
Selectmen Neil Rhein and Frank DelVecchio expressed a desire to see more green space created on the Fales site.
“The elements at war are parking versus parks,” Rhein said.
DelVecchio said he “loved” the Old Colony improvements, but suggested the town could eventually remove the pavement on the Fales site and convert the lot into more open space if the parking was not needed.
“I’d love to see if there’s any way a third or half of the remaining land be extended as a Park,” said Rhein, who served on the Fales Oil Site Committee. “Right now it feels like a postage stamp.
“Overall I think this will be a great improvement,” Rhein said.
“Right now this is a sea of pavement. This is going to be attractive and inviting to people,” Trowbridge said.
“It’s a good compromise,” Selectman Jess Aptowitz said. “Let’s get it down.”
When approving the plan, selectmen including looking at extending the green space into the parking lot if possible. It did not vote on reallocating the Grain Mill spaces for now.
The project will cost approximately $565,000, with the majority, $450,000, coming from road improvement funds and $25,000 from a grant. The Mansfield Municipal Electrical Department will cover the $100,000 cost to improve lighting.