Marblehead park plan revealed

MARBLEHEAD – Landscape architect Matt Ulrich has presented his preliminary designs for downtown Marblehead’s Memorial Park and the Recreation and Parks Commission is giving those designs careful consideration.Ulrich was scheduled to send detailed drawings of his designs for the triangular 1/3-of-an-acre park to the commissioners this weekend. He told them Thursday evening the designs are meant to unify the park’s north and south sections, which contain monuments to Marblehead’s war dead.His design continues the park’s present layout, with a circle inside a circle and the tall granite monument listing the dead of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War at the very center.Ulrich said he and the commission should choose the trees and shrubs with the idea that “Plantings can soften the differences (between the differently designed monuments).”He proposed a 3-foot evergreen hedge along the southern boundary of the park to act as a buffer between the park and the National Grand Bank’s new parking lot, and trees to block the neighboring buildings from view.He also suggested 4-foot brick columns at the Pleasant and Essex streets’ side entrances to the park and one evergreen in a corner of the park which could serve as a holiday decoration.Ulrich and the commissioners seemed to agree on one aspect of his plan: naming trees and benches for Marbleheaders in exchange for donations to cover the expenses.Commissioner Linda Rice Collins urged Ulrich to modify his design so that “Kids can’t hang out in the bushes.” Ulrich said the plantings would be dense enough to make that difficult and the new lighting he proposed for the darker parts of the park would also make that less likely.Chairman Chip Osborne suggested a sign at the entrance describing the history of the property and asking visitors to respect it.Before Ulrich’s presentation, Osborne made sure that the commission went forward with the project without him being involved in the vote.Although Osborne only votes to break a tie, he failed to formally recuse himself from the vote the night the commission approved Ulrich as their Memorial Park designer.Osborne pointed out that Ulrich, the son of his cousin, is designing the park at a cost of $2,000, far less than the $7,500 he would normally charge.Osborne told the commission about his relationship to Ulrich earlier this summer when the commission voted to discuss park designs with him. The commission rescinded its earlier vote and voted again to hire Ulrich.