Breakheart chair hopes bond turns barn green

SAUGUS – The environmental bond bill sitting on the governor’s desk has Friends of Breakheart Chairman Ed Murray thinking green.Gov. Deval Patrick has a $1.7 billion environmental bond bill before him that targets investment, open spaces, parks, beaches and recreation facilities across the state and possibly a green barn for Breakheart.If Patrick signs the bill, Murray said it would be a tremendous boon for the park, which stands to gain roughly $3.4 million in funding. It also includes a provision that would bring water and sewer to the beach.It is the barn that Murray has his eye on, however.Murray said just inside the entrance to the park is the footprint of a barn built in the 1950s, with the remains of a stone wall and a stairway still visible. The plan is to rebuild on the original footprint by making it an entirely “green,” or environmentally correct, building.”It’s a huge project,” Murray said. “We aim to be totally off the grid.”The finished product will be a tribute to the green movement as well. Murray said his first idea was to build the structure exactly like a barn, replete with stalls.”Each stall would be a different exhibit then we’d have a conference room or area at the end,” he said.The design is still in very preliminary stages, Murray said, adding that Ted Nickole from Northeast Metropolitan Vocational School is heading up the project.Regardless of how the interior design plays out, Murray said it would likely include exhibits on wind and solar power and perhaps include a greenhouse with hydroponics projects.Should Patrick decide not to sign the bill, Murray said Breakheart would pursue private donations and corporate sponsorship to get the barn built. Murray said the project has too much potential to let it slide.Not only will having the barn take some of the load off the visitor’s center, Murray said it would be a huge benefit to local schools in terms of a learning center.”It would also probably be the base for the (maple) sugaring,” he added. “It’s all blue skies things but they said we’d never get the visitor’s center built and we did.”