The Bowdoin Orient

April 6, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 20

Town Commons expansion dreams become reality

by ANJALI DOTSON, STAFF WRITER

   A project is being undertaken by Friends of the Commons to expand the Brunswick Town Commons by 95 acres to the south and 17.3 acres to the north. Famous to Bowdoin students as well as Brunswick residents, the Town Commons is an ideal place to relax and exercise. With trail entrances located behind the fields at Farley Field House, the current 80 acres of land has come under developmental pressures in recent years.
   Friends of the Commons, a committee of Brunswick residents, was established in 1999 with a goal of preserving and enriching the Town Commons; since its creation, the committee has been planning and raising money for the Town Commons Trail Project, a plan aimed at developing a system of trails from the Bowdoin campus to the ocean.
   Currently, the trails run from the edge of Bowdoin's campus to Middle Bay Road, where it is possible to continue on to the oceanfront.
   Presently, the main focus is raising the $525,000 needed to go ahead with the plan by the June 15 deadline. In strong support of the project, the Brunswick Town Council is providing $225,000 in financial aid, and the Land for Maine's Future program matched a grant of $150,000. The committee was also able to collect $100,000 in donations and pledges from local residents and other supporters.
   In addition, with the help of two foundation grants of $25,000 from the Dean L. Fisher Charitable Foundation and $12,000 from the Fields Pond Foundation, a community-based nature and land conservation organization, Friends of the Commons has come within $50,000 of their goal.
   This total land expansion of 112 acres will help to secure the preservation of the Town Commons as an integral part of the Brunswick community. Also involved in the project is the Town Commons Planning Committee, a group of town-appointed individuals responsible for overseeing the care of the Commons. The committee is very interested in engaging the Bowdoin community in the project.
   "The Town Commons are so frequently used by Bowdoin students; it's so nice to see, for instance, the cross country team out on the trails training. The College is such an integral part of this project," Barbara Desmarais, Chairman of the Town Commons Planning Committee said.
   The fundraising is scheduled to be completed in mid-June and the transfer of property will immediately follow. For more information on the project visit the Town Commons Planning Committee website at www.curtislibrary.com/towncommons or the Friends of the Commons website at www.brunswicktrails.org/friendsofthecommons.htm.

The Town Commons has been enjoyed by Bowdoin students and Brunswick residents alike for approximately 280 years.
(Kate Maselli/Bowdoin Orient)