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The members of the Agricultural Commission, meeting Monday night at 7 pm at the Municipal Building, were treated to an enthusiastic presentation, via Zoom, from Town Manager Jamie Hellen.
Present were chair, Roger Trahan, vice chair Charles Koshivas, clerk Marian Elizabeth Szymanski, members Nick Hoffman and Linda Noel, associate member Nick Capoccia, and Town Councilor Melanie Hamblen.
According to Hellen, the town could have an opportunity to acquire nearly 50 acres of land off of Elm Street from the Dellea family – and at a modest price, thanks to “development rights” having been purchased by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts decades ago. That means that the land must stay in agricultural use in perpetuity through the Chapter 61A program, yielding an assessed valuation by the town of only $268,000.
Hellen explained, he and Bryan Taberner, Director of Planning and Community Development, have worked to scope out some potential uses, mixing ‘pure’ agricultural uses with trails linking to other town parcels closer to Lincoln Street, and potentially supporting community garden or educational activity. But much of the land would be made available for farming, probably through a leasing arrangement. “Subdividing” 61A parcels for those purposes, has not previously been done, Hellen admitted, and certainly not by a municipality. Nevertheless, he said the Department of Agricultural Resources (DAR), which monitors and enforces 61A agreements, had been willing to listen.
If the town acquired the two parcels, according to Hellen, they would control nearly a mile of riverbank and nearly 100 acres of land.
While Commission members generally gave the proposal an enthusiastic reception, some doubts were expressed. Koshivas, whose Fairmount Fruit Farm is nearby on Lincoln Street, said he was “interested” – but went on to speculate about how it would potentially work for him with a competing farmer, with capital supplied by the taxpayer. Similarly, Hoffman, who has been a farmer in Franklin, also warned that the DAR was likely to be very wary of the concepts Hellen proposed. “Their focus is to keep it in agriculture,” he said. And he noted, trails and a proposed parking lot would probably kill the proposal.
“Where I used to live there were many 61A farms and one of them wanted to bring in busses but the DAR said no because they were concerned about soil compaction," Hoffman said.
Hellen stressed that the matter is at a preliminary stage but asked the Commission to think about it and share ideas and suggestions. The members agreed to review Hellen’s presentation and send comments to Noel prior to their November meeting, adjourning shortly after 8 pm.
