Proposal will come before voters at Special Town Meeting
By Jennifer L. Grybowski, Contributing Writer
Westborough – After several weeks of discussion in executive session, selectmen voted to purchase a 66.15-acre property at 31-33 Eli Whitney St. for $2.3 million.
They will pay for the property with a combination of funding from existing Walkup and Robinson Memorial Reservation, open space and sale of real estate accounts.
Open Space Preservation Committee Chair Mark Silverberg said this parcel, located near the Annie E. Fales Elementary School, is one of the top five remaining existing largest residential parcels in town, and that its position adjacent to several other open space opportunities and existing lands made it desirable.
Timothy Buckalew, serving as representative from Walkup and Robinson and as vice chair of the Conservation Commission, said the parcel has lots of featuring, including limiting development in the area, which affects watershed, stormwater and runoff protection. He also said the town has been interested in this parcel since the 1980s.
“This is a great opportunity for town to preserve a great piece of land for conservation and future passive recreation,” Selectman Allen Edinberg said.
The vote Tuesday night allowed for the selectmen to execute a purchase and sale; the next step is for the land to be surveyed. Selectmen voted to include a 4.72 parcel of land on Eli Whitney Street as remaining under the care and control of the board of selectmen in order to construct parking and trailhead facilities. Once the land is surveyed and a proposed plan is completed, the selectmen
