ROCKLAND, Maine — The city’s Parks Commission is hoping a trail system can be developed across the community that will stretch from an intown lot that had once housed an elementary school to a hill overlooking Rockland.
Parks Commission member Joseph Steinberger outlined Monday the potential uses of the former MacDougal School property located on the residential street of Broadway. The property was turned over to the city in 2010 after residents voted to close the MacDougal School.
The city has mulled multiple uses for the four acres over the years including housing and a solar farm.
A February 1931 deed from the Rockland Community and School Improvement Association to the city stated, however, that the land “perpetually be dedicated to the boys and girls of Rockland.” No buildings are allowed on the land other than a school. MacDougal was built in 1954 but torn down in 2012.
Steinberger said that deed restrictions need to be honored.
The Parks Commission unanimously supports creating a hiking trail that would begin at the Broadway property, Steinberger said. There is a parking lot so people could drive there and hike but the real advantage to this land is that it is within walking distance for the great majority of people in Rockland including young people, Steinberger said.
Steinberger, Annette Naegel of the Georges River Land Trust, and citizen Kyle Swan reviewed tax maps last week to map out a potential trail. Steinberger said much of the trail would go over city property while some would need the approval of private landowners. He said that the proposed trail would be in the rear wooded parts of the private property owners.
The general plan is for the trail to go from Broadway to Old County Road and then across Achorn Cemetery in Rockland, through a forest to West Meadow Road, across that rural road to 40 acres of city-owned land on Tolman Road that leads up to the peak of Benner Hill.
“There are fantastic views up there,” Steinberger said, which include all of Rockland and Penobscot Bay.
From atop Benner Hill, the city-owned land extends to about 300 feet from the Bog Road which leads to the Oyster River Bog, known locally as the Rockland Bog. The Bog consists of a “6,000-acre woodland nestled amid the busy mid-coast communities of Rockland, Rockport, and Warren,” according to the Land Trust.
More than 1,600 acres are held in conservation by Rockland, the Oyster River Bog Association, and Southern Maine Wetlands Conservancy.
“The Bog is an area rich in history and diverse in natural resources. Its forests, streams, wetlands, and peat bog offer prime habitat for an impressive variety of wildlife and plants,” according to the Georges River Land Trust website.
Steinberger previously served on the Parks Commission back in the 1980s when the group recommended and oversaw the creation of a dramatically improved footpath from the end of the Samoset Road to the Rockland Breakwater. He said that was done at minimal expense as can the proposed new trial be developed for little cost.
TripAdvisor lists the Rockland Breakwater Light as the No. 1 thing to do in Rockland, ahead of the Farnsworth Art Museum and boat tours. The website VirtualTourist also lists the breakwater light as the No. 1 place to visit in Rockland.
The Parks Commission member said the committee will work on proposals over the winter before likely submitting a formal plan to the city council next year. He encouraged citizens who want to offer their suggestions for the trail or the MacDougal property to contact members of the commission.