Geprags Park in Hinesburg is a popular place for dog walkers, birders and others out for a hike.

“This is a regular walking spot for me,” Lisa Barrett said.

Barrett lives in Richmond but takes her dogs to the 85-acre park. It also happens to be the final piece of the puzzle in Vermont Gas’ efforts to build its 41-mile pipeline from Colchester to Middlebury. Barrett, a retired lawyer who opposes the pipeline, jumped into the fray after the Public Service Board decided to close public access to a key meeting next week on the park. They cited concerns over protestors. But Barrett, who filed a lawsuit in federal court, says it steps on First Amendment rights.

“It’s just the wrong thing to do,” Barrett said. “In Vermont we are known for having open government and it’s such an overreaction. It’s overkill.”

The PSB has agreed to allow the press to attend and will live-stream the meeting. Barrett says that’s not enough.

“It’s really important for the public to be able to be there in order to access whether it’s a fair process,” she said.

From the start, the pipeline has faced hurdles. Price overruns are now expected to nearly double construction costs to $166 million. Opponents say the nearly half-mile easement passes through wetlands and they say it already serves a public good as a park.

“We weren’t thrilled about our public park being turned into an energy corridor for Gaz Metro and the fracking industry,” said Rachel Smolker, a PSB intervenor.

Meanwhile, Hinesburg’s select board could vote as soon as Thursday on whether to approve a quarter-million-dollar deal from Vermont Gas that would grant access to the park. A decision that some town officials say is premature.

“We need to get into the driver’s seat on this issue and take control of that process a bit more and be dictating some of our own timelines,” said Alison Lesure, who is on Hinesburg’s conservation commission.

In between protests and endangered sunflowers, the park is the latest in a series of obstacles for Vermont Gas, what officials call a last-ditch effort by opponents to delay or kill the project.

“We’re going to invest hundreds of thousands to bring new service to new families in Hinesburg, including two mobile home parks. We’re going to be supporting conservation, we’re going to be supporting habitat management, we’re going to be supporting environmental stewardship,” Vermont Gas CEO Don Rendall said.

Rendall says he supports the decision to close next week’s PSB hearing. He says getting through the process without interruption will enable the company to stay on course and on deadline with the project completed by the end of the year.

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