Town will protect 100 acres of open space.

Byline: Betsy Haley-Cormier

WESTMINSTER - Voters at last night's special town meeting voted to preserve and protect more than 100 acres when they approved two article requests related to the Schenck Farm on Howard and Bartherick roads.

Just 3.1 percent, or 163 of the town's 5,196 registered voters, attended the special town meeting at Westminster Elementary School.

For $400,000, residents voted by a show of hands to buy 61 acres of forestland and to place an agricultural preservation restriction on another 46 acres of the Schenck Farm. The town applied for and received a self-help grant from the state and will be reimbursed $186,000, bringing the real cost to the town to $214,000.

The agricultural preservation restriction will prohibit any activity other than farming on that parcel forever, and the town will own 61 acres of forestland that cannot be developed. Passive recreation will be allowed on the forested parcel.

Town officials told voters that if the land was not protected now, it could be developed later, costing the town more in services than it would generate in taxes. The town-owned parcel will be open to the public for passive recreation such as hiking, and the fields will be returned to agricultural use.

Town officials said they also plan to manage the timber on the property, possibly generating revenue.

Beth Bowen reminded voters of the Robilliard property on Bartherick Road, which went before voters several years ago and did not pass town meeting. It is now developed with several houses.

Votes also approved $18,500 for engineering costs for 69 W. Main St., the future site of senior housing and a senior center; $20,000 to test the soil at 4 Leominster St. for contamination; and $22,684 to replace the water heater at the Meetinghouse School and the telephone system at Overlook Middle School. Also approved was an article for $7,000 to keep the elementary schools open in the evening for the youth basketball program, $1,300 for a portable sound system for town meeting and $5,000 to refurbish the 1929 Seagrave Fire Engine.

At the request of selectmen, they voted to pass over an article for $1.27 million to buy 82 acres on Worcester Road, which was to be used for recreational fields. Selectman John F. Fairbanks said grant money might be available.