WHITMAN – Town officials are examining two possible avenues toward maintaining the Peaceful Meadows property as agricultural land and keeping the ice cream stand and farm operating.
Town Administrator Mary Beth Carter said one option is a bid being prepared for the Tuesday, Aug. 29 auction by Honrstra Farm of Norwell, who proposed to do just that, should they be the winning bidder. She also plans, with the permission of the Select Board to meet with the By-Law Study Committee to create a Right to Farm bylaw for Whitman residents’ approval at an upcoming Town Meeting, even if the Hornstra purchase does not come to fruition.
“Residents would still be able to enjoy the property, ice cream stand and dairy store that they have come to love in our community, and the 55 acres of agricultural land would be preserved in the future,” Carter said.
In business for more than 100 years, Hornstra currently delivers milk to Whitman customers, she said during the Tuesday, Aug. 1 Select Board meeting.
Another possible avenue is through ARPA, town funds or Community Preservation Act funds for the 55-acres of farmland or open space.
“The town does have some options if we were to purchase the property, however, if the winning bid is a farmer like Mr. Hornstra, we would have no opportunity to exercise the right of first refusal, nor do I think we would want to,” Select Board Member Justin Evans said.
Carter has met with John Hornstra, Jay Rosa of the state’s Department of Agriculture, Scott McFadden of the Wildlands Trust, Town Counsel Peter Sumners, Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Keefe and Evans to discuss the upcoming auction.
“John Hornstra expressed his interest in purchasing the Peaceful Meadows parcel which includes the ice cream stand, the dairy store, the barns and the original farmhouse,” Carter said. “If he were the successful bidder at the auction, he would plan to have a working dairy farm at the location.”
Hornstra plans to maintain the ice cream stand and possibly expand the dairy store, Carter outlined. He is also interested in purchasing the 55-acres of agricultural land in conjunction with the Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) acquisition program offered by the sate, if it is financially feasible.
“A Right to Farm local option would benefit the town as it relates to the town’s interests in a possible APR entered into with the stats,” she said. “I believe having Hornstra Farm, another dairy farm, take over the Peaceful Meadows property, would be a positive outcome for the town.”
She also encouraged officials unfamiliar with the Hornstra operation to stop by their Norwell farm.
Evans said he also researched how other towns had acquired property like the Peaceful Meadows parcels in the past.
“If the purchase of the 55 acres – if the winning bidder intended to change the use of the property – the town would have the ability to match that winning bid and purchase it for ourselves,” he said.
It could either be placed under and APR or it could be purchased with ARPA funds or town funds for municipal use, or even use CPA funds to preserve it as open space – potentially farmland, trails or a similar use – as several other towns have done, according to Evans.
“I reached out to the town accountant today … and found out that we have about $273,000 in available CPC funds, between open space and the general purpose CPC funds, if we wanted to exercise that right,” he said. “We could also bond the purchase if we wanted to use CPC funds and make those payments with Community Preservation funds we would take in every year.”
The CPC takes in about $200,000 per year.
Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked how much the property would be likely to be sold for at auction.
“That’s really hard to say,” Carter said.
“A lot more than we’ve got in Community Preservation …” he suggested.
“Oh, yes,” she replied.
Evans said a similar parcel in Rockland – a 36-acre parcel – went for about $800,000 two years ago.
“This [Peaceful Meadows property] is pretty wet, so I don’t know how that will affect things,” he added.