By Theresa Knapp

The Town of Hopedale held a Special Town Meeting on July 11 for the sole purpose of authorizing the town to acquire up to 130.18 acres of land located at 364 West Street, and to borrow $3,900,000 to do so. 

The land in question is located at 364 West Street and includes forestland, wetlands, is just above the Hopedale Pond resource area, and is near the Upton Town Forest. Voters approved the purchase of 130.18 acres of forestland for $1.175 million and another 25 acres of wetland for $25,000. The intent of the purchase was to  protect the town’s water quality, aquifer, and to protect the future water supply of Hopedale and the Town of Mendon. 

Just days before the October 2020 meeting, the Grafton & Upton Railroad purchased the property. Shortly after the town vote, the Board of Selectmen filed suit against GURR in an attempt to exercise its right of first refusal. After weeks of negotiations between the town via special town counsel, and GURR, a “settlement term sheet” was negotiated and accepted (2-1, Hazard opposed) in Jan. 2021. 

Soon after the board signed the settlement agreement,, a group of concerned citizens filed suit against the town alleging officials did not carry out the wishes of the voters at the Oct. 2020 special town meeting; that lawsuit is still making its way through the court system. 

Like the 2020 vote, the vote at last month’s Special Town Meeting was also clearly “yay” with just two or three “nay”s. The warrant contained one article which was discussed for 11 minutes and read, in part: 

“Such acquisition to be made to maintain and preserve said property and the forest, water, air, and other natural resources thereon for the use of the public and [emphasis added] for conservation and recreation purposes to be managed under the control of the Hopedale Parks Commission provided that such authorization shall not be construed as (1) ratifying the terms of the settlement agreement, and (2) authorizing the Select Board to acquire free title to any portions of the property that are currently not in use by the [Grafton Upon] Railroad for Railroad operation purposes or transloading facilities, and further to authorize the Select Board to take any and all actions and effect any and all documents to carry out the purposes of this article.”

Select Board Chair Glenda Hazard read the warrant article, then read an amended version that added the word “and” after “for the use of the public.” Special counsel Mina Makarioius of Anderson and Kreiger said the word was added “to clarify that, in addition to the conservation purposes, the land may someday, in the future, be needed for water resources and this clarifies it so that you don’t have this issue decades down the road, or whatever [timeframe] down the road, to withdraw water for the town’s purposes.” 

While speaking in support of the motion, Hazard told voters the town has (1) secured new special counsel in this matter to review the town’s options (they contend the town can acquire the land by eminent domain); (2) set up a special donation account to accept funds to help the town pay its legal fees, adding “a donor has come forward to pay for the special counsel process to pursue the acquisition of 364 West Street;” and (3) the town plans to pursue all funding options to defray the cost of acquiring this land. 

Hopedale Finance Committee Chair Christopher Hodges said his committee supported the article with a favorable recommendation and said, “The $3.9 million that you see, that’s not agreeing to a value at this point, that will take time, we have months of negotiation and appraisals that are yet to happen.” He said the vote “does not directly raise anyone’s taxes at this point; there’s still a lot of steps to go, this is just the first one.” 

There was one question from a voter. Resident James Abbruzzese asked if there is any contamination on the site that should concern the town. 

Conservation Commission member David Guglielmi said the town will have more information after an appraisal is done “but certainly that would be a concern and something to be looked at at a later period when we get that information.”

A two-thirds vote was needed. Town Moderator Eugene Phillips called for a voice vote which produced a resounding “yay” and very few “nay”s. The motion was passed, the meeting was adjourned, and the audience broke into applause.