Update on Elm Bank Reservation sledding situation
We were surprised/not surprised to see on Sunday morning at Elm Bank Reservation that people were sledding a day after MassHort and local police stopped people from doing so in the wake of the area’s first decent snow, as first reported in The Swellesley Report.
Fencing around the area had been torn down and cars were parked along the road. A local TV reporter was snooping around.
A bunch of people have commented on our original post and on social media following our report.
A man from one family sledding on the hill said they are from Holliston and had come to the park to take some photos and sled, unaware that there was any sort of ban on doing so.
MassHort, which has its headquarters at Elm Bank on Rte. 16 on the Wellesley/Dover/Natick line, was preventing people from using the popular sledding hill to protect the area where it has now begun planting tulips, sunflowers, and more as part of seasonal events. What’s more, that area is protected by electrical fencing that could shred sledders.
While we were at the site people were sledding on the left side of the hill away from where that fencing is situated.
The situation has garnered the attention of State Rep. David Linsky, who posted on the Natick Talks Facebook page that:
“Further update: DCR has informed Mass Hort that under the terms of their lease they need a permit from DCR to reconstruct the fence. This will finally bring Mass Hort to the table and hopefully they will be a better neighbor and we can reach a solution. Obviously I don’t support any “self-help” that may have happened, but I can report that kids are sledding there as we speak. I have been working with the DCR Commissioner on this and he is supportive of our efforts.”
We reached out to MassHort’s director to see if there had been any change in the organization’s approach to the hill.
MassHort has a buck-a-year, 99-year lease on Elm Bank that began in 1996, with the organization agreeing to make upgrades to the property.