ATHOL – Residents and town officials joined members of the Open Space & Recreation Commission for a walking tour of Silver Lake Park Tuesday night.

The purpose of the meeting, which convened at the park’s pavilion, was to discuss a master plan for the park put together by students from the Conway School, which offers a graduate program in sustainable landscape planning. Town officials want to increase park use by area residents, while also improving safety for pedestrians who walk around the nine-acre lake.

After distributing a handout that included some of the suggestions from the Conway students, Athol Planning and Development Director Eric Smith said that while the recommendations aren’t finalized, they are similar to the concept he and the commission had considered.

The master plan calls for widening and leveling the entrance to the park at Fish Street, while incorporating a sidewalk connecting the park neighborhood to the walking path around the lake.

“This separates pedestrians and vehicles traveling down the entrance road,” the document states.

The plan also recommends reorganization of the parking area in order to improve parking efficiency while creating “a welcoming arrival destination around the pavilion.” The lot, according to the proposal, would provide 70 parking spaces, including three handicap spaces. Solar lights would be added to improve pedestrian safety in the high-traffic area after dark.

Vehicle access would end at the northeast corner of the lake, with a gate blocking vehicle access to a pedestrian-only path. The path, which would have a fine gravel surface, would travel the full perimeter of the lake.

The master plan calls for the Lincoln Street entrance to accommodate two-way traffic into and out of a designated parking area providing access to the beach. That lot would provide nine parking spaces, three of which would be handicap accessible.

The beach area would be redesigned “to offer more family-focused activity areas, including a picnicking green, shaded barbecue area, and natural playscape.” It’s hoped the addition of low shrubs along the edge of the lake will reduce beach maintenance needs.

An area of stagnant water which lies near the north end of the lake, on the other side of the paved parking area, would be regraded to create a“stream corridor with check dams and vegetation to aerate and filter water before it feeds into the lake.” A pedestrian path would weave through the small wetland. A small bridge which already exists in the area would be reconstructed.

Now that the master plan has been completed, Smith and the commission will look at ways to fund the improvements. He said that upgrades to the walking path likely couldn’t be covered under one grant.

“But that’s certainly something that is on the table for discussion,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of repaving the roadway and parking areas, Assistant Public Works Director Paul Raskevitz said there currently are no plans for such a project.

“That would be a capital item,” he said. “We couldn’t use Chapter 90 funds for something like that.”

Rakevitz said a new welcome sign to the park is being made and will soon be installed.

Smith said a combination of grant monies would likely be needed to complete the master plan recommendations in the years ahead.

Athol’s Public Works Department has been working on improvements to the park in recent years. These have included upgrades to the pickleball courts and a new swingset near the park’s beach area. The swingset, installed last year, is made to accommodate children of various ages and sizes, as well as those with physical limitations. In addition, last year the Athol Lions Club planted several trees on the peninsula at the north end of the lake. A proposal made by some Lions Club members a couple of years ago to allow kayaks and rowboats on the lake was turned down by the Selectboard.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.