Conservationist Bill Harman came to the WestfordCAT studio recently to state the case for keeping 66 Boston Road an agricultural parcel. He was accompanied by Juliette Mount, who served on the 13-member Drew Gardens task force last year. Mount disagreed with some of her fellow members who were in favor of developing the land.
Mount lives directly across from the 9-acre parcel and has taken an active stand against Developer Ebrahim Masalehdan’s quest to build a 15,000 square foot, farm-to-table restaurant there. To do so, Masalehdan will ask Town Meeting voters on March 25 to approve a change in use of one of three Agricultural Preservation Restrictions established on the land by Town Meeting voters in 1996. The APRs on each of 3 acres were purchased by the town in the late 1990s for $525,000 from then owner Keith Bohne. The purchase meant the land would be kept agricultural in perpetuity and gave the town the development rights and the right of first refusal.
Harman, an honorary member of the Westford Conservation Trust, and Mount, are lobbying to keep the APR as is. They and several others have aroused a growing interest in the parcel, with some residents in agreement and some favoring the land’s development because they say it’s not economically viable to farm it.
In this video, Harman and Mount state their position with WestfordCAT News Director Joyce Pellino Crane.
