Ninigret Park or Ninigret Parking Lot?

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Ninigret Park may soon have a new Master Plan as the consultants working on the plan, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB), have promised that the final draft plan will be available for public discussion. The next meeting at which VHB is currently scheduled to be present is November 30.

Past development in Ninigret Park has been governed by two plans that were approved by both the town government and the National Park Service (NPS): the 1980 Utilization Plan (updated in 1982), and the 1994 Utilization Plan.

A 2008 Master Plan that was adopted by the then Town Council (Mageau and others), but was not submitted to the National Park Service for approval, showed a “Concert and Event Facility” to be located in the 19.7 acre undeveloped area in the northwestern part of the park. The concert/event facility was approximately 13.5 acres, with a camping and picnic area filling out the rest of the 19.7 acres.

In 2014 another draft plan was proposed, but never adopted. In the 2014 draft, the concert/event facility became the “Performance Arts Area.” The venue was expanded to take up the entire 19.7 acres, and an additional 8-acre festival camping area was to be located next to the performance venue.

A map of the 2014 Ninigret Park Master Plan is below.
A map of the 2014 Ninigret Master Plan

As articulated at the most recent meeting by the consultant working with the subcommittee writing the 2023 Master Plan, the long-term vision includes a large performance area similar to that shown in the 2014 plan.

The 2014 venue measures approximately 858,132 square feet. For comparison, a football field is 57,600 square feet, tiny compared to what is presented.

What is the potential capacity of the venue contemplated in 2014? Using 858,132 square feet as the area and assuming that each person would use approximately 36 square feet of space, the venue could conceivably hold 23,837 people.

Because there is no public transportation to and from Charlestown, people attending events in the “Performance Arts Area” would need to drive and park their cars in Ninigret Park. The maximum number of cars and buses that can be parked in Ninigret Park would also affect capacity.

This issue was addressed by the Parks and Recreation Commission in 2014. A map was prepared that showed that 3,860 cars would be the maximum number of cars that could be parked on all the existing hardscape surfaces in the park and in one field.

The cars would be parked in the two main parking lots, in the large parking lot between the tennis courts and the criterion bike track, on the criterion bike track, in the field next to the Frosty Drew Science Center, in the parking lot for the disc golf course, and in the gravel parking lot on the back entrance to the park—pretty much everywhere. That map is below.

Graphic of possible parking spaces in Ninigret Park

To determine capacity based on the estimated available parking, the Commission assumed, on average, that there would be 2.5 people in each car. Alternatively, it could have assumed, as some studies indicate, that 4 people would be in each car. The Commission thus determined that the capacity of the venue, which would be permitted by the Town Council, should range between 8,000 and 12,000 people.

In order to evaluate the impact of these 8,000–12,000 people arriving in 3,860 cars on traffic in town, one need only look at one of the existing large events, Rhythm & Roots. This year 12,000 people attended; however, the attendance was spread over 3 days with at most 5,000 people on the single peak day. Even with just 5,000 attendees, not all arriving at the same time, Old Post Road (Rt. 1A) and Post Road (Rt. 1) experienced traffic backups.

How many large events of this size are envisioned is unknown, but in 2010, the Parks and Recreation Commission discussed the possibility of hosting two events per month for four or five months.

The stated reason for clear cutting nearly 20 acres of trees and brush in a currently undeveloped part of the park is to move large events to the proposed Performance Arts Area “so that the community can use the rest of the park.”

But how can the community use the park if it is being used as a parking lot?

If a resident could get through the traffic and then find a parking place for a recreational use other than the big event, walking from that lucky spot would require navigating parking lots and roads being used by the nearly 4,000 other cars, some of which will be moving. Not a very safe or pleasant stroll in the park.

Another reason often stated for clearing and developing this corner of the park is that “we can do whatever we want on the 55 acres.” We don’t agree with that assessment, but even if it were true, the Master Planners are still assuming that they can use the remaining 172 acres of Ninigret Park that are undisputedly under National Park Service control as a parking lot for large events hosted on the 55-acre parcel.

If the National Park Service rules that the 172 acres of Ninigret Park undisputedly under NPS control cannot have permanent lighting because of its impact on migratory birds, other wildlife, and the mission of the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, the headlights of thousands of cars would still create large areas of artificial light if the Park is used as a parking lot. Beyond artificial lighting, there are other wildlife impacts from thousands of moving vehicles that could take a considerable amount of time to enter and exit the Park.

No matter where a large event area is placed, parking will dominate the remaining areas of the Park, and the quiet enjoyment of Ninigret Park by residents and wildlife will be eliminated.

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