Weekapaug Foundation for Conservation
The Weekapaug Foundation for Conservation has purchased the development rights for the Silver Farm, ensuring that 70 acres
between East Avenue and Airport Road will remain open land forever.
The foundation acquired the property rights and a conservation easement on Thursday from Joseph and Dulcie Silver for $877,605.
The couple will continue to live on the farm, which Joseph Silver's father, Sam, purchased in 1919.
"The fields will still be hayed, but nothing will ever be built here," Dulcie Silver said Monday. The Silvers sold their herd of dairy cows in
1989.
They have received offers to purchase the farm in recent years. Town officials considered the land for the site of a new school or public
works garage.
The Town Council had the property appraised in the fall of 2000, but the Silvers said they had no interest in selling and already were working
on the deal with the Weekapaug Foundation.
The conservation easement applies to 70 of the farm's 76 acres and restricts land uses there to recreation, agriculture, and open space. The
Silvers' home and gardens are located on the remaining six acres.
The deed will remain with the land if the Silvers ever sell any portion of the property, and the Weekapaug Foundation will have the right to
match any offer the Silvers receive from potential buyers.
Stanley Kanter, the foundation's lawyer, said the foundation could consider acquiring the last six acres, for example, if the Silvers decided
to sell.
The property is zoned by the town for office-research and assembly and technology development. It borders the Red Brook subdivision to the
south and the Moore Woods. It also borders the Zanella property to the north, an Airport Road site that a Boston real estate firm hopes to
develop for a large retail chain.
The Dartmouth Co., which has helped develop Lowe's Home Improvement stores and BJ's Wholesale Clubs, has applied to rezone roughly 25 acres
near Airport Road and Franklin Street for highway-commercial retail use. The developers will discuss their application tonight with the Planning
Board.
Their preliminary plans depict a large retail building off Airport Road of 131,029 square feet with an outdoor garden center of 42,605 square
feet, a structure larger than the Home Depot approved for construction behind the nearby Franklin Shopping Plaza. The plans also show three
smaller retail shops, of 6,400 to 7,000 square feet each, facing Franklin Street between Airport Road and Charles Avenue.
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