17 March, 2015
The Board of Selectmen agreed that expoloring a potential merger between the Hopkinton and Ashland Fire Department was a good study but based on the reaction at public forums and the general feeling towards the plan in both towns, the plan for collaboration should go no further. Selectmen Chair Todd Cestari said he was glad the Board did the study to weigh the options; "The reason we were looking into this was to save money, the more information we got, it didn't seem like that was going to pan out or there was some pretty great risk at it kind of being a break even or costing more. It seemed like we were going to be adding management layers and putting a lot more boots on the ground... it did not seem like anything we couldn't accomplish on our own for lesser money...I think this is a great example of something we're going out there, we're studying it and found it's not something we want to pursue."
Roy MacDowell of Legacy Farms gave an update on devolepment adding to the 730 acre site. The proposed plan would add 180 units of age restricted housing in place of 200,000 square feet of commercial space on the north side of Legacy farms, beyond Rafferty Road. "Over the last couple of months we have gone to the zoning advisory committee.. and got approval to move forward to the planning board." Roy is hoping to secure the support of the Selectmen and Planning Board in there meeting on March 23rd.
If the project gets approval at town meeting as part of the host community agreement approximately 1.8 million dollars would go to the town. Roy stated, $360,000 of that would be going to the Fire Department and various life safety issues in town, 1.5 million dollars would go toward downtown improvements and expanding the trail system throughout Hopkinton. MacDowell stated the use of the money will be decided by the Selectmen; "These are choices that I believe were made by the Selectmen but we would be giving you the money to use at your discretion."
In part of further developments set to take place at legacy farms Roy mentioned building on the North Road could start by April 1st and the planned completion date is thanksgiving.
