by Julie Gowel ·
Friday, September 27, 2024
A new proposal could help solve Harvard’s athletic field deficiency with a three-way land swap deal. Jim Lee, chair of the Open Space Committee, presented a plan to the School Committee in which land on Old Mill Road, belonging to the Conservation Commission, could be swapped for land behind the Hildreth Elementary School, belonging to the school. ConCom could then give the Old Mill Road land to Parks and Recreation for athletic field development.
A field needs assessment study commissioned by Parks and Rec in 2023 and conducted by Rockland-based Gale Associates, found that the town requires four additional fields to meet the needs of school and youth athletics. Gale recommended one full-size, multi-use, rectangular field; two youth-sized rectangular fields; and one 60-foot diamond field. Upon deliberation, Parks and Rec modified the needs assessment to consist of two multipurpose rectangular fields (MPRs) based on current enrollment in various sports.
According to Parks and Rec Director Anne McWaters, one multipurpose field is generally the size of two youth fields. “Soccer is the largest user of fields and will continue to be for the foreseeable future,” she said. “The MPRs can be used for soccer, lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, and field hockey.”
In the study, Gale conceptualized using the land on Old Mill Road, known as the Stone land, for one multipurpose field and parking for 100 vehicles. The land is 6 acres, of which 3.7 are outside the 200-foot water body buffer and therefore usable (see map ). The Stone land was taken by eminent domain in 2002 under the Public Lands Preservation Act, otherwise known as Article 97, and has been under the jurisdiction of ConCom ever since.
“Parks and Rec is interested in the Stone field,” said McWaters. “We have a couple of pieces of land that we have jurisdiction over. We offered to swap ConCom some of our land for the Stone parcel, but the only things we have, they aren’t interested in.”
McWaters was referring to two sites: One is the wooded terrain behind the town beach on Bare Hill Pond, and the other is a parcel to the northwest of the Ryan land on Depot Road. The property by the pond is protected by the Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act, and the Depot Road land is covered under the Wetlands Protection Act. Additionally, under Article 97, the Stone land cannot be swapped with land held by Parks and Rec.
There are two parcels of land behind HES, known as the Small land, that are under the purview of the schools. One tract is just over 2 acres while the other is 24 acres. The “Small nature trail,” regularly used by students and faculty and maintained by ConCom, as well as the town’s sewer treatment facility are on the Small land. The property contains “significant wetlands and streams,” according to the Open Space Committee.
The proposal from the Open Space Committee is for the schools to give up 22 acres of the Small land to the Conservation Commission, and in exchange ConCom would give the Stone land to Parks and Rec to develop an athletic field. Four acres of the Small land are carved out of the swap to account for the town sewer and HES parking facilities.
Abby Besse, chair of the School Committee, said the land swap is an “ongoing conversation” and that the Open Space Committee has given all parties involved a deadline of Feb. 1, 2025, to make a decision in order to present the proposal at the Annual Town Meeting in the spring.
“Right now, we are in fact-finding mode,” said Besse. The School Committee, via the Open Space Committee, has submitted a number of questions to the town’s legal counsel. For instance, is it possible to carve out a 6-acre parcel for the swap? Could the state be petitioned to relinquish other conservation land for the swap? What is the monetary value of the Small land?
Additionally, the School Committee wants clarity regarding the restrictions that could be placed on the Small land if it is turned over to ConCom. “A portion of the land is being used as an outdoor classroom,” said Besse. “There may be plans in the works for other ConCom-compliant additions, for example expanded classroom space, an art installation, or additional learning centers. We want to ensure that students can still use the space as originally intended.”
Members of the School Committee expressed concern at its meeting on Sept. 23 that giving up the Small land could result in problems down the road, should another school need to be constructed to meet population demands. They asked Superintendent of Schools Linda Dwight to coordinate a walk of the land with the architects that designed the elementary school to ascertain whether or not the Small land was buildable.
The swap isn’t just a town matter. Exchanging the Small land for the Stone land would trigger an Article 97 action, according to Peter Dorward of the Open Space Committee. In addition to the proposal requiring a unanimous ConCom vote, it would also need a two-thirds Town Meeting vote as well as a two-thirds state Legislature vote.
While the swap would provide the space needed for one field, Parks and Rec is actively searching for other sites for potential recreational use. So far, 27 parcels of land have been identified by the Open Space Committee as being suitable for Parks and Rec needs. The committee reached out to all owners either in person or by letter, inquiring about the land owners’ willingness to sell the properties. The Open Space Committee received two responses to its inquiries, and while one site-walk revealed land too wet for field development, the other was being discussed in Parks and Rec executive session, which is not open to the public.
Article 97
Because the Stone land is subject to Article 97, certain criteria must be met before a land exchange can take place. First, since the swap would change the use of the Stone land from conservation to active recreation, the proposal will go before the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) for the state. The EEA will review the proposal to ensure that the proposed replacement land is not already subject to Article 97, or otherwise protected in perpetuity; for example it cannot be ConCom or Parks and Rec land.
Additionally, the EEA requires that the replacement land, in this case the Small land behind Hildreth Elementary School, must be equal or greater than the Stone land with respect to acreage, appraised value, and natural resource value.