Central Mass. Officials Look For Balance Between Development, Land Preservation
Protecting open space is an initiative that state officials, private land trusts and conservation groups have been pursuing aggressively for several years.
In its most recent report, issued in 2011, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said nearly 1.3-million acres of land in the state were protected as open space, representing about a quarter of the Bay State's total acreage, and has for the first time surpassed the percentage of developed land.
The Patrick Administration uses these protected land figures as bragging rights. But is protecting vast plots of land from development — in some cases permanently — the best approach for short- and long-term economic development?
That question was raised recently by John F. Stevens, a Spencer selectman. A proposal aimed at linking two parcels of open space in town came before the board last month. Stevens voted against it not because he's against preserving land, but because he's unsure local officials are considering the lasting economic impact of land preservation.
“When I hear someone say, 'The more open space, the better,' I get a little nervous, because there truly is a limit,” Stevens said.
Stevens is keenly interested in preserving Spencer's rural character, and even wrote environmental impact statements in his first job out of college. He said he doesn't want to be perceived as being anti-open space. It's just that he's mindful that, with hundreds of acres of protected land in town, unforeseen economic opportunities might never arrive.
The Plusses Of Protection
Approved open space parcels are protected under the state constitution. Various uses may be allowed, depending on the particular parcel, including passive recreation and farming. Some are permanently protected.
Though it's true open space protection prevents new development in many cases, it may be beneficial in other ways.
A well-planned community with ample open space is actually quite attractive to prospective businesses, said Armando Carbonell, chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge.
Carbonell, who teaches land planning at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, said towns like Spencer, with formal open space plans aimed at balancing land protection with economic development, are likely to reap the benefits of land protection without hindering business.
Cities and towns save money, too, when large tracts of land are protected from residential development, which further strains local budgets due to increased demand for services.
“It all adds up to an economic story that may not be the one that people think of first,” Carbonell said.
Open space protection may draw controversy among affected parties, like developers, at the local level, but Carbonell said that in a low-density state like Massachusetts, it's difficult to imagine that land-protection efforts will hinder business.
“There's a sort of implication here that one can have too much open space and not enough for development, and I think that's possible, but not the usual,” Carbonell said.
Ashland Acquisitions
Matthew Selby, director of community development for Ashland, has a similar opinion.
Ashland has acquired two large parcels for open space protection in recent years, including the $5 million acquisition of land known as Warren Woods from Northeastern University, and $1.7 million from Weston Nurseries for land abutting Hopkinton.
Affordable housing may be developed on the former Weston Nurseries land, Selby said, but the Warren Woods parcel will be protected from development. It's zoned only for residential use, and Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved the measure, Selby said. If it were zoned for commercial and industrial development, support may have gone the other way.
“Every town has a price point at which a single-family home must sell above to pay for the costs associated with it … that number is pretty high,” Selby said.
In Ashland, the price point to pay for town services is about $600,000, according to Selby, a figure most houses in town don't fetch. Selby said Warren Woods could have been converted into about 70 buildable lots if it were not preserved, adding about 150 children to educate in local schools.
“The cost of educating those children is far greater than revenues brought in from property taxes,” Selby said.
Meanwhile, at least one developer is capitalizing on the concept of open space at a new residential and commercial project in Hopkinton designed to be a place to live, shop and work.
Roy MacDowell, manager at Baystone Development in Weston, said the company's Hopkinton apartment community, Legacy Farms, covers 730 acres, about 500 of which will be protected as open space under a landowners' association.
“How often do you get to say you live on a 500-acre preserve?” MacDowell said.
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