The Hancock Select Board has placed tighter restrictions on a field that had previously been used as a parking lot for town events, after the Conservation Commission and the Harris Center for Conservation Education pointed out that the field is in a conservation easement.

The field will only be used for overflow parking during town events, and will otherwise be posted no parking without permission from the Select Board. The vacant field adjacent to the Hancock Depot Cabaret, which both the town and Depot Association have used unofficially as a parking lot in the past, was dedicated as an overflow lot for town events between Memorial Day and Labor Day at a previous meeting.

Assuming the lot was town property, based on a tax map obtained by the town administrator, the Select Board instructed the town’s DPW to perform some light maintenance to make it easier for cars to park in the space. However, the properly had been erroneously marked as town property, and not in a conservation easement, due to a past clerical error.

The Select Board met with Eric Masterson, the Harris Center’s land program manager, as well as representatives from the Depot Cabaret and Hancock Conservation Commission on Monday afternoon to resolve the situation.

Hancock Conservation Commission Chair Stephen DiCicco acknowledged that the Select Board had made an honest mistake, based on an error in the records. The commission wanted to uphold the easement, “but neither the Harris Center, who are the initiators of the easement, nor the conservation commission, who are the guardians of the easement want to be ‘bad neighbors.’ ”

DiCicco hoped the three parties could come to a compromise.

“Had we known this was conservation, we would have come to the commission to talk about it before we made any decisions,” said Select Board Chair Ginger Smith. “But what we’re looking for is seasonal options to park.”

Masterson emphasized that it was the Harris Center’s job to uphold conservation easements, but echoed DiCicco’s comments, hoping to come to an agreement that would benefit all parties. He pointed out that the conservation easement includes language prohibiting motor vehicles, except in the cases of forestry and recreation. He added that town events could be considered recreation.

Ultimately, the three parties agreed that both the town and Depot Association could use the field as a parking lot only in cases of overflow for major town events. Additionally, the Select Board and Conservation Commission will develop a memorandum of understanding regarding the use of the field as a parking lot.