Town Meeting voters in Hopkinton failed by 11 votes to win the chance to purchase the 750-acre Weston Nurseries.
Eleven votes. That’s all it took to deny Hopkinton the chance to purchase more than 700 acres of farmland.
In a dramatic ballot at Town Meeting just before midnight last week, proponents failed to muster the two-thirds required to spend $30.3 million to buy Weston Nurseries. The overflow crowd packed the Hopkinton Middle School auditorium and several adjoining rooms in stifling heat as most voters spoke in favor of the town purchasing the land.
While a majority of voters approved the purchase, the 573-292 vote was not enough to keep the parcel from being sold to Boulder Capital. The Weston-based developer has an agreement for the land. Provided zoning approval is granted, 940 units of housing and 450,000 square feet of commercial space would be built on the parcel. Voters were exercising their right to buy the property because the regional landmark has been taxed at a reduced rate. Hopkinton’s right of first refusal expires on June 23.
“It was high drama, wasn’t it,” said Roy MacDowell Jr., Boulder’s president following the vote and four hours of debate. “I had no idea what to expect. I thought 500 people would show up for this, but it was nearly 1,000.”
And the drama is not over. During a selectmen’s meeting last Wednesday, several voters who supported the town’s option to acquire the land requested another Town Meeting vote. They alleged that the voting procedure was inadequate and lacked security.
Mavis O’Leary, co-founder of Hopkintonians Organized to Preserve and Enhance (HOPE), a town-wide group that was launched in response to the sale of Weston Nurseries, said many people reported inconsistencies in the voting.
O’Leary said voters were given blue cards upon entry to Town Meeting. But she noted that officials failed to ask voters to show the cards as they voted. As a result, she said there was no way of knowing if the voters were Hopkinton residents.
In addition, O’Leary said proponents of the purchase were not allowed to leave literature in support out their plan at the entrance to the middle school auditorium where the voting took place. In contrast, Boulder was allowed to display color brochures highlighting their plan, she said.
“This issue is not dead,” said O’Leary. “We want the vote rescinded and a new ballot cast.”
A Tough Choice
Today, voters will go to the polls for a Proposition 2 1/2 override vote that would authorize the town to boost taxes to pay for the land. But it is unclear what that vote means.
John Dennis, Hopkinton’s attorney, did not return a call seeking comment.
Bruce Karlin, town moderator, said if voters approve the Proposition 2 1/2 override, the Board of Selectmen will be faced with a tough choice. “The board is the deciding body on whether to exercise the option to buy,” he said. “But if the vote fails at the override, the selectmen would be nuts to proceed. I hope this gets settled quickly so people have clarity and know what to expect from their town.”
Finley Perry, chairman of the town’s Land Use Study Committee and a supporter of Boulder’s plan, said if the override passes it will pit override voters against those who voted at Town Meeting.
“I guess it would be resolved by the selectmen, who could call another Town Meeting to try to resolve the conflict,” Perry said. “But the town’s option to buy the land expires on June 23, so I think the override vote is moot.”
During Town Meeting, MacDowell presented his plan for Legacy Farms, which would include 500 acres of open space, 50 single-family homes, 650 townhouse and garden-style condominiums, 240 rental units, a 150,000-square-foot village center, 100,000 square feet of commercial development on East Main Street and a 200,000-square-foot park. The land is zoned for housing and Town Meeting approval would be required for the mixed-use plan that Boulder wants.
“We are not proposing a by-right use,” MacDowell told the crowd. “It’s an overlay district master plan, which means we will work with the Planning Board, Conservation Commission, selectmen and all the various committees and the neighbors to devise a master plan that we would bring to the Town Meeting where a two-thirds vote would be required.”
Still, MacDowell said he plans to start work on a parallel “as of right” plan that would include single-family homes and an affordable housing development.
“We want to work with the community,” he said. “It’s human nature to think that status quo is the best. So it’s important for us to have neighborhood meetings and allay people’s fears. The next step is to reach out to the community. We need consensus.”
Clark Waterfall, a longtime resident and proponent of buying the land, said there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty over the Town Meeting vote. “There are lots of the technical issues over Town Meeting,” he noted. “What do we do with a contested vote?”
Weston Nurseries, 25 miles west of Boston, is a regional landmark that has lured New England customers for more than 84 years. But the garden center owners, brothers R. Wayne Mezitt and Roger Mezitt, have been embroiled in a family feud over the future of the fourth-generation company. A combination of bickering and declining revenues forced the pair to file for bankruptcy. In February, a federal court judge approved Boulder’s purchase for $20.5 million, an additional $5 million following permitting and another $12.5 million if the town approves 1,700 housing units on the site.
