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On June 20, 2011, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MA DAR) completed the closing for the approved Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) of 31.057 acres on the Town Farm property located off Leyden Road/Glenbrook Drive. At the completion of the closing, MA DAR’s General Counsel, Bob Ritchie, handed Eric Twarog, Director of Planning and Development a check in the amount of $198,000 for the APR. “It is very exiting that the closing for this APR is now complete” stated Twarog. “This project began in early 2009 as
a partnership between Mount Grace Conservation Land Trust, the Pleasant Street Community Gardens, and the Town of Greenfield as a search for urban lots within Greenfield that could be used for community farming/gardening which has now culminated in an approved APR on the Town Farm property.”
The Town issued a Request for Proposals back in late April seeking proposals from qualified non-profit organizations to enter into a fifteen (15) year lease with the Town of Greenfield to establish and operate a Greenfield Community Farm and associated agricultural educational programs on the approved Agricultural Preservation Restriction. The Town awarded the project to Just Roots, Inc. and is now in the process of finalizing a lease agreement for Town Council approval at their August 2011 meeting. Just Roots is a non-profit organization formed in partnership with Pleasant Street Community Gardens, Greening Greenfield Energy Committee, and Mount Grace Conservation Land Trust for the purpose of identifying and protecting agricultural land in Greenfield to secure local food production by and for the community.
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