In November of 2011, the owner of the 25-acre O’Brien Farm on Vose Road in the Parker Village section of Westford wrote a letter to the Westford Land Preservation Foundation. The owner’s family has owned the farm since 1886, and Charlie McColough turned to the Foundation for help in putting as much of the land as possible into conservation.
The last week of 2012, the final papers were filed with the Registry of Deeds placing a conservation restriction on twenty-three acres of the Farm, assuring that the land will remain open space where the public can walk the trails in perpetuity. Forever.
The public is now welcome to enjoy the natural beauty of O’Brien Farm, hiking and snowshoeing the existing trails. The conservation of O’Brien Farm was a result of a public/private partnership crafted by the Board of Directors of the Land Preservation Foundation.
“It was a remarkable alliance between the landowner, four conservation non-profits, the Town of Westford and the Commonwealth,” reflected AndreaPeraner-Sweet, the President of the Foundation.
“Charlie had already invited the Sudbury Valley Trustees to consider being the co-holder of a conservation restriction on the land with the Westford Conservation Commission, and then he wrote to our Board.” In turn, Sudbury Valley Trustees submitted a grant application to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Conservation Partnership Grant Program, and the Land Preservation Foundation applied for a grant from the Fields Pond Foundation. Both grants, totaling $95,000, were approved for full funding. The Westford Conservation Trust pledged $8000.
The Town’s Conservation Commission and Community Preservation Committee were brought into the partnership, and both unanimously supported asking an October 2012 special town meeting to appropriate Community Preservation funds for the project. The appraised value of the conservation restriction was $1,290,000 but the landowner generously agreed to accept $345,000 less for the sale. The town meeting would be asked for $760,000.
The Westford Land Preservation Foundation agreed to raise the remaining $100,000 from private donations. At the October 15th town meeting, Foundation President Peraner-Sweet was able to tell voters that $99,960 was in hand. When voter Denali Delmar walked up to the front of the Abbot School gym and handed Peraner-Sweet forty dollars, the Conserve O’Brien Campaign was over the top.
Following the nearly-unanimous approval of town meeting, Peraner-Sweet wrote to all who had been involved, “Our success once again demonstrates what a committed, hardworking group of people can achieve as well as just how important open space is in our town. Westford endeavors to be a town that strives to combine and balance residential and commercial development with the preservation of our open space, our history and our natural habitat. The Westford Land Preservation Foundation continues to contribute to pursuing and maintaining that goal,” she concluded.
