Members of Wayland’s Recreation Commission gathered Tuesday night to discuss a variety of topics ranging from future athletic fields to lighting the ice rinks at Cochituate Field.

Here are a few highlights from that meeting:

Lighting the ice rinks – Rec Commission member Asa Foster reported that a late November decision by the Zoning Board of Appeals approved lighting Cochituate Field until 10 p.m., paving the way for the Rec Commission to determine hours for night skating.

No one spoke during public comment against lighting the ice rinks, so Rec Commission members opted to allow Recreation Director Nancy McShea to determine when to use the lights.

“I feel like there’s apparently no controversy,” Brud Wright said, adding that he understood the request had been to keep the lights on from about 5 p.m.-8 p.m. two nights a week – likely on the weekend.

Athletic fields at Loker Recreation Area – Chair Bob Virzi reported that he spoke with the Community Preservation Committee about funding for developing three 60-foot diamonds at Loker after the Finance Committee decided not to include funds in the FY13 budget to develop the area.

“They [CPC members] said they love the project, and would be supportive of funding it,” Virzi said. “We need to come back to them with a plan.”

Hiring an engineering firm to produce a plan for the proposed three fields at Loker could be expensive, but Virzi said he is hoping some existing plans for the area can be sufficiently developed by individuals already on the town’s payroll.

Prioritizing field use for a five-year master plan – Looking ahead, the Recreation Commission has a goal of developing six athletic fields in town: three, 60-foot diamonds; one, 90-foot diamond; and two, multipurpose fields.

The three, 60-foot diamonds would reasonably fit within the space available at the Loker Recreation Area. In addition to the Loker fields, the commission wants to explore putting the 90-foot diamond and one multipurpose field on a site near the Paine Estate on Old Connecticut Path; and putting one other multipurpose field on either Holiday Road, the Nike site or at Wayland Middle School.

The commission also wants to keep open the idea of putting a lighted turf field where the current Department of Public Works garage stands, assuming that garage will be replaced by a new structure at another site in the coming years.

Rail Trail update – Larry Kiernan, a member of Friends of the Rail Trail, updated commission members on the current status of the three miles of Rail Trail that run through Wayland.

Kiernan explained that the Rail Trail is “effectively a linear state park” that the Department of Conservation and Recreation owns but cannot currently afford to develop.

Working without funding, the Friends of the Rail Trail would like to work with DCR to remove the train tracks and eventually pave a 26-mile stretch of Rail Trail that runs from Waltham, through Wayland, to Berlin. That is likely a 10-25 year project.

In the more immediate future, Kiernan said, the group wants to remove the railroad ties along the trail section in Wayland and lay a stone-dust path that would be usable by walkers, bikers and equestrians.

As part of the Wayland Town Center project, the town is receiving $250,000 from the developer to pave the portion of the Rail Trail adjacent to the Town Center, which is includes a section of trail from the Wayland Public Library to near Russell's Garden Center.

The Recreation Commission members expressed appreciation for the work being done on the Rail Trail in town and said they would discuss with McShea what their involvement in the project could be given that the commission’s charter limits them oversight of town-owned lands.