Saugus, hopeful for grants, updates open space plan

SAUGUS – The town is updating its open space plan, in part to make it easier to get grants.Economic Development Coordinator Robert Luongo said the town submitted its open space plan to the Department of Conservation and Recreation last year but is making some corrections. Luongo said an open space plan will make Saugus eligible for state and federal grants to make improvements or acquire more open space. He said he hopes to have a final draft ready submitted by August.?We?re eligible to apply for funding, but if we did get some funding they couldn?t award us the money until they gave us final approval of the plan,” said Luongo.The state gave the town conditional approval of the plan, but it gave Saugus more than a dozen items that needed correction before final approval, said Luongo at a meeting Monday of the Open Space Committee. “Right now we?re in the process of addressing those 16 or 18 items,” he said.Some of those corrections include updated information on handicap accessibility, environmental issues like drainage and flooding, wildlife and additional maps. The current plan would be good until 2019.?All the parks need to be accessible and if they?re not we have to create a transition plan on how to make them accessible,” said Luongo. “So we?re doing that right now and inventorying all the parks to make sure they comply with (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards.”Luongo said every community is required to have an open space plan, which is basically an inventory of a city or town?s open space such as parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities along with a description of what the community will do to maintain them.?You come up with goals and actions like making improvements to the softball field ? It?s like a plan of action. You identify what your open space and recreation facilities are, what the needs are and the demands are of the town ? And you project what you need to do over the seven years to meet those needs.”