Minutes
Open Space Committee - Minutes - May 6, 2026
May 6, 2026
A public record published by the Town of Simsbury (simsbury-ct.gov). mySimsbury indexes it and makes it readable; it is not the official copy. View the original file.
Page 1 of 2 Open Space Committee1 Regular Meeting2 May 6, 2026 – 5:00 P.M.3 Simsbury Town Hall – Main Meeting Room4 933 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT 060705 6 MINUTES7 8 I. CALL TO ORDER – Madam Chair Masino called the meeting to order at 5:00 P.M.9 10 Present: Chair, At-Large Member Susan Masino; Vice Chair, Conservation11 Commission Chair Margery Winters; First Selectman, Wendy Mackstutis; Planning12 Commission Chair, Erin Leavitt-Smith; Zoning Commission Chair, Tony Braz;13 Culture, Parks, and Recreation Commission member Lori Coppinger, Culture, Parks,14 and Recreation Commission Chair; At-largeConservation Commission Member, Helen15 Peterson (virtual); and Parks and Recreation Director, Tom Tyburski.16 17 II. PUBLIC AUDIENCE18 19 No public audience.20 21 III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES22 23 March 4, 2026, Regular Meeting24 25 Madam Chair Masino amended lines 38 and 39 to be re-worded.26 27 MOTION: Planning Commission Chair Leavitt-Smith made a motion, seconded by28 Conservation Chair Winters to approve the Minutes of the March 4, 2026, Regular29 Meeting as amended. The motion carried unanimously. (7-0-0)30 31 IV. WORK PLAN FOR SIMSBURY OPEN SPACE32 33 Madam Chair Masino presented the current draft of the Work Plan For Simsbury Open34 Space consisting of the order and content as follows:35 36 Summary37 Mission38 Open Space Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 6, 2026 Page 2 of 2 Charter and Code39 Rules of Procedure40 Acquisition Policy41 Disposition Data Form42 Policies and Ordinances relevant to Impacting Town Open Space43 Identified Needs44 Inventory45 46 The Committee discussed adding and combining made revisions as neededto47 categories in the inventory, reviewed examples of properties and some edits, and48 discussed the inclusion of various policies and documents vs. linkss, procedures, and49 inventories.50 51 52 V. INVASIVES UPDATE Margery Winters reported on upcoming invasive removal53 days sponsored by the Simsbury Land Trust. Open Sappace will contribute to cost-54 sharing for reprinting of invasive species booklet which has been very popular.55 56 VI. ARBORETUM UPDATE –the draft has been provided to Schultz Park Committee.57 Ambiguous species will be identified after leaf-out.58 59 VII. OTHER BUSINESS60 61 VIII. EVENTS –invasive species every Saturday AM, Bear Safety Event at Eno Hall62 Youth Room May 18th at 1 pm.63 64 IX. ADJOURNMENT65 66 MOTION: Madam Chair Masino made a motion, without objection, to adjourn the67 meeting.68 69 Madam Chair Masino adjourned the meeting at 6:15 P.M.70 71 Respectfully submitted,72 73 Amanda Blaze74 Commission Clerk75