Benson Park may soon see stricter rules for large gatherings, after residents complained of unauthorized parties leaving overflowing trash, blaring music, and litter behind, including balloons and confetti that officials warn pose a risk to local wildlife.
At its July meeting, the Benson Park Advisory Committee reviewed park ordinances with an eye on updating the park usage forms residents must fill out to hold large-scale gatherings at Benson Park.
“For people who aren’t familiar, if you have a party of 15 or more, 15 up to 50, you need to fill out a park usage form, which you can find on the Benson Park website under ‘forms,’ and we were talking about possibly updating that,” explained Committee Chair Sue Clement. “Now we have e-bikes coming through the park, now we have music that is too loud.”
Committee member Evan Maloney researched other parks across Southern New Hampshire to get a better idea of what new ordinances might look like and how they could be enforced.
“I did draft something up and send out a copy, there weren’t too many significant changes,” said Maloney. “I specifically included e-bikes in the language that talks about regular bikes, skaters, and skateboarders. I know the issue of posting signs has come up recently, so I included that specifically.”
Other suggested additions restricted the sale of food or goods in the park without a permit, and limited “sustained loud noise” beyond the ambient level outside of approved events. Fishing will remain permitted “in accordance with New Hampshire regulations.”
“Another thing was to avoid damaging structures, stone walls, wildlife, trees, or plants,” said Clement, singling out the practice of nailing signs to trees as an ongoing problem the Advisory Committee wanted to fix. “Failure to comply with these could result in a fine. For instance, if they did have a group that violated one or two of these things and there was a patrol officer around, they could fine the group $25.”
Public Works Director Jay Twardosky added that certain violations could include a summons for disturbing the peace.
Committee members indicated that trash from unauthorized parties was another issue plaguing Benson Park.
“I went walking this past Sunday evening around 8 and there were three parties that had not used the park usage form, and the music was loud. The trash was overflowing. They had balloons and confetti was all over the place,” said Clement. “As soon as I mentioned the rules and that they didn’t have a permit, they were very good, did pick up, and left, but I did have a picture of overflowing dumpsters that I sent to the DPW.”
There is no daily trash service to the park, as twice-per-week trash pickup often struggles to keep up with usage.
“Our guys had to come in Sunday night to clean up the mess that was left behind, and it wasn’t just those dumpsters. They were all overfilled,” added Twardosky, who warned that confetti and balloon pieces can be harmful to local wildlife. “There’s a lot of wildlife in the park; they would have just dragged everything all over the place. That’s one of the reasons why we have the park usage form, so we can limit the amount of people going in at a time.”
Twardosky said he wanted clear signage at the entrances to Benson Park outlining usage rules.
The Benson Park Advisory Committee is set to meet on Thursday, Aug. 20, at 7 p.m. in the Hudson Cable Access Center.