The Colella property this week was donated to the town as open space in perpetuity.

The Open Space Preservation Commission at its meeting Thursday night was enthusiastic about the town’s acquisition of the Colella property for open space, a process one member said was 20 years in the making.

Town Manager Elaine Lazarus in an email Thursday afternoon announced that the town acquired the 20.86-acre parcel of land off Hayden Rowe Street from Robert Colella this week.

“The Town thanks Mr. Colella for offering the land to the Town, which will be set aside as open space in perpetuity,” she stated. “The parcel is adjacent to 80.5 acres of existing open space land, creating a total area of over 101 acres that is open to the public. Access to the area is off Hayden Rowe just south of Chestnut Street, where there is a parking area, trailhead, and new pollinator garden.”

Lazarus thanked the OSPC for identifying the parcel and applying for funding. Also praised were the Trails Committee and resident Mike Boelsen for their efforts in maintaining this “beautiful property with woodland, field and lawn areas.”

“For the past 20 years we’ve been working on this as a town,” said Jane Moran, the Planning Board liaison.

School Street property discussed

Member Steve Levandosky mentioned a 9-acre property off School Street that “the OSPC would be interested in for open space.” He said the owner, who was not identified, had put it on the market but took it off after learning that abutters were interested in developing it. The owner now is looking at potentially putting two houses on the land, which he inherited from his father.

“The problem he’d run into is the frontage is 370 feet, which is enough for one house,” Levandosky explained. A cul-de-sac might make the frontage enough for two houses.

The owner planned to build his home 400 feet back from the road. This may not be feasible because it would lie between two intermittent streams. Closer to the road would be a second lot that he would sell for a potential house.

Levandosky said his hope was to preserve “as much of the back parcel as we could” because it abuts the Upton State Forest and a town-owned lot. This could create a pedestrian access corridor to the forest via a trail. He noted that the “topography would be challenging” to build upon.

There are no plans developed yet. Once a plan is devised, members said it would be a cumbersome approval process among the Board of Appeals, the Planning Board and the Conservation Commission for two homes.

The OSPC will write a letter seeking permission to walk the property and get an appraisal of the land to see if the town could afford to purchase it for open space.

Marguerite Concrete rezoning proposal resurfaces

Chair Ed Harrow said a previous proposal to develop a parcel at the corner of South Street and Hayward Street for the corporate headquarters of Marguerite Concrete has resurfaced. The property is zoned as a residential lakefront district, but the company wants to make it a rural business district.

Article 29 was proposed by engineer Peter Bemis as a private citizen at the 2023 Annual Town Meeting. It was unanimously opposed. Bemis had wanted to withdraw the article beforehand but missed the deadline.

Harrow said that there is discussion to get the land rezoned for five parcels instead of seven. If this were approved, Harrow said an L-shaped parcel could be donated to the OSPC if it wanted it.

Members agreed to wait and see what happens with the plans, noting strong residential opposition to the project. As to whether the OSPC wanted that land for open space, Moran advised a statement of “no comment.”

Pollinator gardens installed

Harrow shared that two pollinator gardens were installed recently at the Hughes Property at 192 Hayden Rowe Street and at Pratt Farm between 108 and 126 Fruit Street. He and his wife volunteered planting at the Hughes site, and he said that each pollinator garden has unique features.

The OSPC unanimously approved invoices for the pollinator gardens from Weston Nurseries. There was a total invoice of $6,512.65 for plantings, sod and labor. This was funded through the participatory budget. Fencing was purchased from Hopkinton Lumber for a total of $522.74.