Community Preservation Committee Discusses Open Spaces, Prioritizing Preservation

Phil Stanway, head of the Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship, Wednesday night asked the Community Preservation Committee to approve money the stewardship had spent over the summer and early fall to help beautify areas of town.

Among some of the costly projects the stewardship undertook this year were planting shrubs and pear and cherry trees at Heart Pond and Red Wing Farm. They also put in 14 yards of loam and compost at Sunny Meadow Farm's tree garden, and spent money on paint, piping, and sprinkler implements.

"We're coming here for some of the items we'd like to see if we can get subsidized," he said.

Currently, the Community Preservation Committee is allocated $200 of town money as an annual budget. Even though the stewards of each open space invest much of their own money, and workers donate time and equipment, there is often a surplus of costs needed for the town's open spaces upkeep.

Stanway also reported that the community garden at Sunny Meadow Farm is expected to expand in 2011 because of the site's reorganization and the need to meet the community's demands, specifically for Community Supported Agriculture.

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a process in which community members buy shares of the produce that a farmer will grow over a season. The number of families is expected to increase to  200 from the current 100 or so in the current program.

Stanway said that the demand for locally produced goods has necessitated an expansion in the town's open spaces dedicated to fill such a need.

"We're looking at two other areas in town to go back to agriculture in the next twelve months," he said.

The two town-owned sites are currently fallow fields and will require significant labor to be ready for planting and harvesting.

The Community Preservation Committee pledged to honor some of the costs incurred from the Chemsford Open Space Stewardship when Stanway submits receipts and final costs.

The committee also discussed prioritization of possible sites for open space preservation. The committee agreed that apart from some of the town's other committees, they should independently judge what it deemed important for preservation. These considerations would be separate from the size of land parcels or location concerns, but would be based more on the subjective overall worth of the properties to the town.

Rebecca Markey, a citizen appointee, told the Community Preservation Committee that town officials are going to be working to prioritize the town's properties.

"They are actually going to go through and start prioritizing them and work with the Conservation Commission on that priority list," she said.

Another initiative that will help this project is a $20,000 study that will create a list of important Chelmsford historical properties, buildings, and other structures. The committee agreed to supply $10,000 for the plan, while the second 50 percent is expected as a grant from the state Historic Society.

Currently, there is no inventory for all historic and cultural assets owned by Chelmsford.

"Do we have a list of everything in town? And is it prioritized? And we don't, so this is good," Markey said of the proposed inventory.

Robert Morse, chairman of the Community Preservation Committee, said the inventory was a good way for Chelmsford to account for all of its historical capital and stay organized.

"Chelmsford is just rich with historical resources, and this will tie them all together," he said.

The Community Preservation Committee noted that while this inventory wouldn't help current projects, such as funding for the structural fixes asked by the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, it could be very beneficial toward assessing historical significance in future projects.

Because of the state's strict deadlines, approval of the study must be submitted before Nov. 15. According to the timeline, the inventory could be finished by fall of 2011.

In Other News

The committee also discussed Chelmsford's Master Plan, and decided that it would be beneficial for copies of the document be available in the town's public schools and library.