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6/12/2013 7:46:00 AM Dwelly Farm conservation to be finalized; portion set aside for school land agreement

Kerry O'Brien News Staff Writer TEMPLETON — With a conservation restriction on Dwelly Farm set to be complete by the end of the month, North County Land Trust and town officials are also planning to set aside a portion of the land as part of an agreement with the state to secure a planned elementary school site at the Templeton Developmental Center property. “This is the best path forward to give us flexibility to allow Dwelly Farm conservation to go in place, and hold aside a few acres for the school,” said Town Administrator Jeffrey Ritter. In 2011, Annual Town Meeting voters provided $33,000 to the land trust for a conservation restriction on 69 acres of Dwelly Farm, located in the town’s agricultural district on Barre Road. The transaction is set to be complete by July 1, and will preserve the land for passive recreation and forestry in perpetuity. Meanwhile, the Templeton Elementary School Building Committee has arranged for three acres of the site to be set aside. The school building committee is working with state officials to use 12 acres of state-owned land at the developmental center — in the area of Crow Hill — for an elementary school. In order to use the land, state officials are requiring that an agricultural restriction be placed on another parcel. The Board of Selectmen will need to approve the agricultural restriction separate from the conservation restriction, and state review is also required. However, North County Land Trust Executive Director Janet Morrison said the agricultural restriction will fit well with the trust’s plans for Dwelly Farm. “There’s a community garden group in town, so we’ve talked them and they’ve expressed interest in doing a community garden,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for people who don’t have land of their own or want help with gardening to create a plot and grow crops and harvest them. “We want to have agriculture going on and community involvement as much as possible,” she continued. “We’ll involve public access and use of the farm for agriculture including community gardens and pastures for grazing animals.” The school building committee provided the North County Land Trust with $15,000 toward the Dwelly Farm effort.