Worcester Telegram & Gazette, February 3, 1990
John J. Monahan Staff Reporter
Land Trust Purchases Property for Conservation
Southwick Pond and 114 acres of surrounding woodland on the Leicester-Paxton line will be preserved as an open conservation area, because of a unique public-private conservation purchase.
Allen W. Fletcher, president of the two-year-old Greater Worcester Land Trust, said the group has been negotiating to purchase the land for permanent conservation for more than a year.
But after extended fund raising and negotiations, he said, the group fell $50,000 short of $350,000 needed for the purchase.
But now the city Water Department, which views the property as critical for protection from development because it is part of the Lynde Brook Reservoir watershed, has provided the $50,000.
The City Council approved the appropriation Tuesday from its Watershed Aquisition Fund.
DEVELOPMENT RESTRICTION
For its money, the city will obtain a development restriction in the deed, preventing development.
Fletcher said it is the first time in recent history the city has participated in a joint private-public conservation purchase. It will allow the land sale to go ahead within the next few weeks, he said.
The property is part of the Maple Hill Farm owned by Thomas E. Southwick, who has been hoping to have the land preserved, rather than sell it for development.
The southern border of the property runs along watershed land for the Kettle Brook Reservoir, while the two ponds on the property flow into Worcester's Lynde Brook Reservoir. Both reservoirs are part of the city's water supply.
Fletcher said the land trust will now exercise its option to buy the land, and the Water Department would purchase a conservation restriction from the land trust. The land trust, he said, will reserve the right to use the property for passive recreation by the public.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
"We are just going to put some trails on it. It will be open to the public, and the Audubon (Society) may run some programs on it," Fletcher said. He said the land is home to a lot of wildlife, including otters and blue herons, and it joins two other protected city watershed properties to form a large wildlife and conservation area.
Fletcher said the city and the land trust got a bargain.
"For $50,000 the city is protecting maybe $800,000 worth of land," Fletcher said. Meanwhile, he said, the asking price from the owner is also a bargain compared to the value of the land if it were to be sold for development.
Fletcher said he and a group of seven land trust directors worked on the purchase.
'FEELS GREAT'
"This past summer it was frustrating because we thought it was going to fall through," Fletcher said. But with the council approvals complete he said, "It feels great" to get the land trust's first project moving.
"Because it's our initial project, it was important to succeed," Fletcher said. The trust is attempting to build credibility in the community to provide landowners the option to dispose of their property for conservation rather than development," Fletcher said.
"A lot of people don't need to seek a developer's price and have enough feeling for their land to want to leave it in its natural state," Fletcher said.
He said the group is expecting a sizable land donation in the near future. It also is working on another project with the city, in which the two would become joint holders of a conservation restriction on the 59 acre Nick Chase Estate. The property has been deemed a priority open space parcel in the north end of the city near Indian Lake.
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