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Date: 11/1/2022
SHUTESBURY – Wyola may mean ‘quiet waters’ in Native American dialects, but Lake Wyola has been anything but quiet this summer because so many people were partying on the dam. When the Select Board recently looked into reports of misuse of the dam by people having a good time they found the town had another problem: how to get to it.
“The town now has to cross private land in order to access the dam,” Rita Farrell, Select Board chair, told board members. “When a survey was done by an adjacent property owner we learned that that property is not owned by the town of Shutesbury.”
Town officials have permission from the landowner to cross that strip of land to the dam, the dam keeper has been allowed to park there as well, but the partiers create risk for the town, which may be liable if someone suffered an injury. The board first heard about the carousing over a month ago. Last week, the third appearance of the dam on the board’s agenda was to write a letter seeking members for a committee to look into the problems and secure long term accessibility.
Another route to the dam, crossing the outlet stream that flows beneath Locke’s Pond Road, sent up red flags for Miram DeFant, chair of the Conservation Commission.
“We would want to have some controls around protecting the stream from traffic, foot traffic, whether at the bridge or wherever,” DeFant said. “Because the dam was originally acquired for the purposes of conservation, I would really like to encourage you to have a Conservation Committee member on this committee.”
Lake Wyola State Park, including the lake and dam, are also known as the Carroll A. Holmes Recreation Area.
Farrell surveyed the outlet stream where people have crossed and found the embankment dangerous. The board determined that traffic across that stream should be discouraged. That makes it even more important, Farrell said, to secure access to the earthworks from the previous entry point.
Board member Eric Stocker is leading the effort to create a “quick committee” that will meet only a few times. Stocker concluded it should be a full subcommittee of the Select Board, which requires the taking of minutes and full transparency, which he felt was essential. Stocker said, “I don’t want to do anything behind anyone’s back.”
“I would have the police chief, the abutters and the dam keepers” on the committee, Stocker said, “and have Catherine Hilton on there because she’s on LWAC (Lake Wyola Advisory Committee) and she’s in the area.”
Hilton also sits on the Board of Health. Stocker had no problem with a Conservation Commission member on the subcommittee. Stocker also contacted the LWAC to get their feedback on the idea of creating a body to discuss the problems and possible solutions.
“The LWAC folks, they think it’s a great idea, study it and look at it, there’s no question about that,” Stocker said. “As far as the committee itself, I think we were talking having an informal committee, a quick committee.”
The need for documentation, taking minutes, and full transparency determined the need for a formal subcommittee of the Select Board. Board members spent some time at last week’s meeting reviewing a letter Stocker composed, which had to be a little different from letters soliciting participation on other committees because so many appropriate members had already been identified.
Stocker met with the landowners in the area and counted them on the subcommittee after they voiced strong desires to be included in any decision about the dam.
“Ideally, we would like to appoint the abutters and the people there, in that area,” Stocker said. “Some of the abutters have expressed concern about really wanting to be involved. They don’t want a chain link fence around the dam.”
Stocker’s inclusive approach was appreciated by the third member of the board, Melissa Makepeace-O’Neil, who said, “It’s a sticky situation.”