Waltham Land Trust Postion Against Transfer of Jericho Hill

The Waltham Land Trust was very concerned to see that on March 2, 2020 the City Council voted after executive session to transfer approximately 6 acres of property known as Jericho Hill to the School Department for possible use as parking and athletic facilities for the new high school. The Land Trust's mission is to preserve open space in our City. Part of that mission entails ensuring that when the City of Waltham acquires land for open space with public dollars, the City fulfills its commitment to keep that land it its natural, undeveloped state.

When Jericho Hill was acquired in 2001, at the Land Trust's urging, the City clearly purchased it to be preserved as open space. The City has held it out to the public as open space and included it the City's open space plan (page 37) for the two decades since. These are the exact types of conduct that give land protection under Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution and Smith v. City of Westfield; the residents of Waltham have the right to expect that land acquired as open space will remain that way.

If you have not seen the Jericho Hill land in person, the Land Trust urges you to visit and see firsthand what will potentially be lost, together with the breathtaking but challenging topography of this forested summit. We invite members of the Waltham City Council, along with the general public, to join the Land Trust in walking this parcel on Saturday, March 7, at 2 pm. Please carpool and park/meet at the end of Jericho Hill Road.

The Land Trust understands that Waltham is in dire need of a new high school and had not objected to the use of the land at 554 Lexington Street for this purpose, largely because of assurances that this would guarantee the preservation of the surrounding open space, and because it became clear 554 Lexington Street was at risk of even greater potential destruction if it were sold to a private developer. However, precisely due to the fact that our community will always have competing important needs, it is essential that open space remain an urgent priority and that when land is acquired for that purpose it is properly protected from future development. Whether it is carbon recapture from trees, wetlands that mitigate runoff, habitat for a diverse range of plants and animals, or serving as an important natural oasis, open space offers countless benefits for our community that are vital to its long-term health and success, but can be easy to overlook.

The Land Trust appreciates the process surrounding the new high school has presented our community with a range of challenges. It has also revealed a concerning tendency by some City officials to consider land acquired for, and categorized as, preserved open space as being available for these types of uses. If this trend continues, it has the potential to radically negatively change the landscape of our community.

For these reasons, we are calling on Waltham Land Trust supporters to take the following action:

• Contact your City Councillors, the Mayor, and School Committee, and encourage them to preserve Jericho Hill.
• Attend the City Council Meeting on Monday, March 9, at 7:30 pm to show your support for the preservation of open space. Consider bringing a sign or wearing a Land Trust t-shirt, cap or supporter button.
• Contact your City Councillors and Mayor McCarthy and advocate for a public commitment to preserve the City's existing open space with conservation restrictions that guarantee when land is purchased for conservation/open space the public can truly count on it remaining that way.

For further information contact Sonja Wadman, Executive Director, by calling the WLT office at 781-893-3355 or by emailing swadman@walthamlandtrust.org.

[The Waltham Land Trust board of directors includes a City Councillor and a School Department employee. Neither director attended the discussions or votes on endorsing this position.]