Recreation Committee

Committee Inception:

During the Town Meeting of March 2004, the townspeople voted to create a committee to "develop the use of town land". The Board of Selectmen requested interested members of the community to volunteer their time and services to be a part of the committee. Committee members first met in June of 2004 and elected officers.

Mission Statement:

The Recreation Committee is dedicated to the development of town land by incorporating the following:

• Minimal financial impact to taxpayers.
• Build a stronger sense of community by preserving our natural resources
• Long term commitment to developing and maintaining the land
• Foster a healthy relationship and combined efforts with other groups and committees in town.

1 st Year Goals and plan - 2005

The committee was challenged with determining the goals and plan for the development of the land.

• The Town of Minot owns approximately 150 acres of land stretching from the school area up to and including the Town Office and current ball fields. Many of those acres are untouched. There does exist some trails that have been created by the snowmobile club and various other organizations through the years, plus old tote roads and primitive paths used by the school to walk from school to the current ball fields.
• The committee created and mailed to each citizen in the Town of Minot a survey that listed options of how the land could be developed. Those surveys were received and analyzed. The top two items, based on the majority consensus, were to create multi use recreational trails (non-motorized) and the creation of soccer/baseball/softball fields.
• The committee completed a grant application with the Maine Department of Conservation Recreational Trails Grant program. In January of 2006, word was received that the Minot Recreation Committee had been awarded $29,000 for construction of non-motorized recreational trails on the town land. The trails will be built over three years from 2006 to 2008 and many of the trails will be ADA accessible.
• In September of 2005, a Community Work Day was held to construct an access road to the proposed fields and begin clearing the area for the first Soccer field. This day was a great success! The Minot Community Park was created!
• The " Minot Community Park " sign was built and erected at the entrance of the access road to the fields (near the Minot Consolidated School ).

The Recreation Committee thanks all of those who have given to these projects through the donation of their time, equipment, money and supplies!

2006 - What is Happening Now?

The first soccer field has been built and seeded. The committee does not anticipate playing on this field in the fall of 2006, because they want to make sure that they have a good solid field to play on. The Soccer field should see full playing time in the Fall of 2007

The first phase of the construction of the Recreational Trails will begin in the late summer/early fall of 2006. A three phase installment process is planned for the trail construction. The total length of the trail system will be 14,000 feet and have a standard width of 8 feet. The surface will be crushed gravel. Over half the trail system will be ADA accessible.

Any future work days will be announced on this site and will also be listed on the "Minot Calendar" accessed from the home page. We welcome the public to participate in our monthly meetings and to be a part of our work days as we continue to create the recreational fields and trails for Minot !