The Open Space Preservation Commission met briefly Monday afternoon to unanimously approve a warrant article submission regarding the potential donation of open space on Frankland Road.

Articles for the warrant for the May 5 Town Meeting were due by 5 p.m., which prompted the afternoon meeting, which was virtual and lasted only a few minutes. The OSPC submitted an article as a placeholder regarding the proposed  land donation.

The property in question is owned by Agilitas Energy, which purchased the land from Seaboard Solar in 2022. As part of the approval process for its solar array that year, the company pledged to donate about 45 acres of open space to a town entity for the purpose of conservation and trail maintenance. The Deer Run Trail is located there. Agilitas also donated more than $10,000 to the Hopkinton Area Land Trust.

“This meeting was to get a placeholder article on the warrant in case they want to donate the parcel to the town and OSPC is willing to accept the donation,” Principal Planner John Gelcich wrote via email to the Independent shortly after the meeting. “The warrant closes today at 5, hence the urgency for holding the meeting. There is no requirement that the open space, should it be donated to the town, be accepted at this Town Meeting, but I suspect the OSPC saw an opportunity to possibly add it to this Town Meeting warrant and jumped at the chance.”

He added that the property owner last year had filed an Approval Not Required (ANR) plan, which allowed the land to be subdivided to create the open space parcel. While no final decisions have been made about the land, Gelcich explained it could be donated to the town or to HALT. A conservation restriction also is an option.

This issue is expected to be discussed in greater detail at Thursday night’s OSPC meeting.