Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 1/3/2023
CHESTERFIELD – On Oct. 17, 2022, the Select Board hosted a meeting with Wright Ostermier Landscape Architects (WOLA) to learn about the hopes residents have for the 6 North Rd. property, in the center of the historic downtown area, and what options are possible for the 11-acre site.
“WOLA has presented some potential designs for the property,” said Brenda Lessard, town administrator. “The Select Board looked them over, and put their feedback in, and had them go back to the drawing board a little bit. Now, they’ve come back, incorporating a walking path and some stuff like that.”
The results of a survey of 44 residents is now posted on the town website. Also shaping the data are the four questions asked of residents at the Oct. 17 meeting. Those questions included what residents like and dislike about the property, as it is now, what they would like to see on it and what fears they have about possible developments on the site.
Residents appreciated that the property opens up the space in town center, with views of natural landscapes, offers habitat for local wildlife and the property is owned by the town. Several other preferences speak to the possibilities of the land, which include the chance to use the acres to satisfy the needs of the town, the land has a rural character and can be used for agricultural purposes, and the site could be used for parking for town events, a perennial need.
One piece of the puzzle is the house and barn standing on the property. Some residents are fond of the building. The town also needs senior housing, which currently does not meet the local needs, which has a larger percentage of the population in the senior age bracket than in prior decades.
The structures still may go, according to Lessard.
“It’s in rough shape,” Lessard said of the farmhouse. “I know that…people are always looking for housing. It is fixable. It’s going to be up to the townspeople to decide what they want to see there.”
The survey revealed what local folks don’t like about the property, that the farmhouse is in a neglected state and the plot of land includes wet areas and actual wetlands. Residents were more fully informed at the October meeting of the challenges of the site, which include that the wetlands reduce the footprint of usable area. The site shows a gradual slope. Most uses will also require setbacks from boundaries shared with other landowners, which further reduces the usable square footage.
The third question answered by residents at the October meeting concerned their fears of what the future holds for the property. A number of responses were about the property itself. Residents didn’t like
“Degradation of the surrounding natural resources” and the loss of public access to the site. Residents also fear new buildings constructed on the site will not fit in with the character of the historic downtown area.
At the October meeting, Emily Wright, co-founder and principal architect at WOLA, commented that the town was laid out and built predominantly during the era of horse drawn carriages. She said, “That should be accentuated.”
Most of the fears for the property involved conditions not of the land, but the town’s situation. Residents commented on the lack of a master plan, which informs development decisions, and that no consensus for use of the property will be reached, leading to divisions in the support of any future uses. One use, as a site for new town buildings, generated concerns they would not be energy efficient.
Increased traffic and a higher tax rate were also concerns of respondents.
The WOLA survey, conducted after the October meeting, drew 44 respondents. The most preferred options for use of the property were for walking paths, agriculture and as a wildlife meadow. Those drew votes from 32, 26 and 26 residents, respectively. Each resident was given more than one vote. The other two uses most preferred by residents was for a new safety complex, with 21 votes going for each option, a new firehouse or a new police station.
A picnic pavilion, natural play area, solar array, new town offices, parking, rain gardens and a cremation cemetery were other responses.
One possibility would be to sell a building lot, which was not mentioned by survey respondents. That option would be possible even if a public safety building and town offices were built on the site.
“If they put a public safety building across from where the current fire station is, and then possibly a town office, further down, that would still give us room…to sell a building lot there,” Lessard said. “That would be if we tore the existing house and barn down. That’s all up in the air.”
The town administrator said that location would least disrupt the land and be most suitable, being relatively flat. Town leaders aren’t making the decision on the best uses of the land. Further discussion will take place at another community meeting, hopefully in January. No date has been set.
Lessard emphasized that voters will decide.
“The Select Board wants to do what the townspeople would like to see done with that property,” Lessard said. “Ultimately, it’s going to be their decision at a Town Meeting. It’s…the town’s decision.”