Signs will help raise funds for skateboard park

Town council members voted unanimously Monday [Sept. 14] in favor of amending policy to allow signs to be placed in the recently opened skate park.

The issue of signs was first brought to the council at its Feb. 9, 2009 meeting and was referred to the recreation advisory committee, and then was back before the council this week.

Until now, banners and signs indicating sponsors were only allowed at Southeast Park and the Lions Club Memorial Park.

Now, banners will be allowed on the interior perimeter of the fence of the skate park.

The council vote took place after a public hearing Monday during which there was no public comment.

Mansfield Parks and Recreation Director Curt Vincente spoke briefly about the requested amendments. He said banners would be allowed only during the park’s season, and then removed.

The skate park is open April to November, depending on the weather, from dawn to dusk, and locked when closed.

The skate park had a “soft opening” at the end of August. An official opening ceremony will be held Saturday, Sept. 19, from 1 to 3 p.m.

The park is located behind the northwest corner of the Mansfield Community Center and adjacent to the E. O. Smith High School’s basketball and tennis courts.

Funds collected from signs will be used for park improvements. “In the absence of other support funding from the town for skate park equipment, [parks and recreation advisory committee] is encouraging fundraising to reach the goal of providing minimal equipment to make the park usable,” reads an April 30 memo from the committee to the town council.

The park was built with town funds and donations. A little more than $12,000 was donated to the skate park interest group for equipment.

Vincente said local businesses also donated labor to construct the facility.

Currently, the park has ramps, rails and other obstacles for skateboarders and bicyclists (i.e. BMX bicycles).

Posted Sept. 15, 2009

Related links from the HTNP.com Editor

Contributors to the park’s construction: http://www.mansfieldct.org/town/current/public_works/engineering/skateboard_park/

Public notice of the hearing: http://www.mansfieldct.org/town/current/legal_notices/notices/2009/20090914_tc_ph.php

Video: Three-year-old skateboarder – I assume his mother is watching out for cars…

New medical facility approved for construction

Generations Family Health Center is currently located on Main Street in Willimantic.

Generations Family Health Center Inc.’s proposed 32,000- square- foot, “environmentally friendly” medical facility planned for a site on Mansfield Avenue won unanimous approval from Windham’s zoning commission at its Sept. 9 meeting.

The proposal is to build a medical clinic at 40 Mansfield Ave., near the corner of Mansfield Avenue and Valley Street on a 3.8-acre parcel of land purchased by Generations in 2007.

Generations is a nonprofit, regional community health center that provides primary medical, dental and behavioral health-care services to low-income families in Windham County.

W. Albert Jacunski, an architect from Jacunski Humes LLC, said “not a drop of oil” will be burned at the facility – it will be heated and cooled with a geothermal system.

The new facility will replace the current one at 1315 Main St., officials said, and put the group’s medical, dental and behavioral services in one location. Generations also has offices at 322 Main St.

The new facility will also allow the medical group to see more patients, as the patient volume is predicted to increase from 26,000 visits to 42,000 annually.

Town land- use officials said there aren’t any wetlands on the site, so no further town land-use approvals are needed. The site is also zoned to allow for hospitals or medical facilities.

Currently, Generations Family Health Center is a tax-exempt facility. The assessor’s office said if the new Generations facility is used for purposes similar to how it is used now, it would not be taxable.

Officials from Generations have said the estimated total cost of the project is about $12.5 million, and the facility would be a “green,” or environmentally friendly, facility.

Generations Family Health Center has received $1.4 million in state bonds and $768,000 in federal stimulus money to help pay for the project. Plans are to move into the new building by fall 2010.

Alice G. Taylor – Feb. 6, 1916 – Sept. 11, 2009

LONDONDERRY, New Hampshire – Alice G. Taylor, 93, of Harvest Village in Londonderry, NH, died Friday, Sept. 11, 2009 in the Bedford Hills Care and Rehabilitation Center in Bedford, NH.

Mrs. Taylor was born in Lawrence, MA on Feb. 6, 1916, a daughter of the late Alexiey and Mary (Dehalo) Gavriluk.

She was a resident of Londonderry since 1996, formerly living in Mansfield Center, CT.

Mrs. Taylor was a graduate of Lawrence High School, the Mass General Hospital School of Nursing, and the McLean Hospital School of Psychiatric Nursing.

She had been employed for many years as a psychiatric nurse, practicing at the Natchaug Hospital in Mansfield, as well as at Remington Arms in Bridgeport, CT, and as a private duty nurse.

Mrs. Taylor was a life member of the “Friends of McLean” and a former member of the American Nursing Assoc.

She enjoyed gardening, painting, crossword puzzles, crocheting and dancing.

She is survived by her daughter, Charleen Taylor Daniels of Londonderry, NH; two sisters, Lilly Dombroski of Tewksbury, MA, and Nita Johnson of NY, also several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Barton K. Taylor in 2005.

Calling hours were on Sunday, Sept. 13 at the Peabody Funeral Homes and Crematorium, 290 Mammoth Rd., Londonderry. Funeral services were held on Monday Sept. 14 at St. Xenia of Petersburg Russian Orthodox Church, 170 N. Lowell Rd., Methuen, MA. Burial followed in the St. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Methuen.

Memorials may be made to St. Xenia of Petersburg Russian Orthodox Church, P.O. Box 147, Methuen, MA 01844. To send a condolence please visit, www.peabodyfuneralhome.com.

Posted Sept. 15, 2009