| Recently there were significant concerns posted to numerous Facebook Groups concerning signs posted on Barnard Fire Department Property at 410 Maiden Lane commonly referred to as Barnard Park.
To clarify to all concerned Barnard Park has been owned by the Barnard Fire Department since October 1975. The property was purchased adjacent to the Barnard Exempt Fireman’s Association to create parking spaces for the Barnard Fire Department Carnival which was held on Barnard Exempt Fireman’s Association Property at 360 Maiden Lane since the middle 1930’s to relieve parking overflow in the adjacent neighborhoods.
As the Town was growing also, a cooperative agreement was signed to allow the Town of Greece to utilize Barnard Fire Department Property at 410 Maiden Lane in the late 1970’s for community sports when the Barnard Fire Department was not utilizing the property for its events. At no time has the Town of Greece owned Barnard Park.
This agreement was in place for over 41 years until 2019 when the Town of Greece notified the Barnard Fire Department and five other organizations in the Town of Greece that had long standing agreements with the town for use of their property that they would no longer have any need for their property, and they were cancelling all of these agreements as per the cancellation clause in the contract.
With the cancellation of this agreement the members of the Barnard Fire Department have been responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of Barnard Park. This includes mowing of grass, treatment of grass, removal of tree branches and picking up of leaves.
Over the last six years we have seen many changes to Barnard Park. We removed the sign at the entrance to the park from Pomona Drive designating Barnard Park as a town park. The park road was secured to stop the dumping of leaves as this was no longer a designated leaf collection site.
For safety concerns we removed over seventy five trees in April 2024 due to concerns they were dying and had the potential to fall over.
We removed obsolete playground equipment that had not been inspected in years and had become a safety hazard.
We secured access to all of our buildings on the property with security alarms and reinforced doors due to unknown persons attempting to break into them.
We added multiple video surveillance cameras at numerous locations to protect the property and to help identify these unknown persons with the assistance of Greece Police.
We have been slowly adding signage to the property since fall of 2025 to identify Barnard Park as private property and if outside groups are interested in using it, they needed to contact the Barnard Fire Department for permission at barnardpark@barnardfire.org. The latest addition of signage was along Maiden Lane and the service road to the Town of Greece Animal Shelter.
Request for permission to use the property are reviewed on a case by case basis for what the proposed use is; once that is reviewed, we will provide the group with a list of requirements to complete prior to allowing use. Three major requirements that groups need to be aware of; does their group have proper liability insurance coverage and workman’s compensation insurance coverage; they will need to apply for a Town of Greece Special Use Permit; and will it interfere with Barnard Fire Department activities on the property.
Currently Barnard Park is the home of the Barnard Fire Department fund raiser Bands at Barnard which replaced our carnival after its 88th year in 2016 as our primary fund raiser.
Also to eliminate further confusions on this matter, the Barnard Fire Department is a volunteer organization which is a completely separate entity from the Barnard Fire District. Many of our personnel are involved with both entities and we share this website and common public service missions.
Again, we are sorry for any confusion that was caused by the posting of signage on Barnard Fire Department property.
If you have further questions or concerns, you can email us directly at barnardpark@barnardfire.org.
Thank you. |
