11C-001 Meadowcrest Farms- zoningPLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT • CITY OF NORTHAMPTON
Citr9 Hall • 2io Main Street, Room i i • Nortbampton, MA oio60-3198 • (4 587-1266 • Fax:587 -1264
Wa,9ne Feiden, Director • planning @northamptonp[annin,q.orq • www.northamptonplanning.org
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November 2, 2001
Alex MacPhail and Viki Gable
92 Florence Street
Leeds, MA 01053 -9704
RE: Meadowcrest Farms Subdivision
Dear Mr. MacPhail and Ms. Gable:
As you know, you received subdivision approval for your Meadowcrest Farms project over a
decade ago. I know, from conversations with Alex many years ago, that you have some interest
in keeping the back land as open space. We would be happy to work with you on some type of
restriction that would give you the full use of the land for agriculture, permanently preserve the
land as open space, and potentially provide you with a substantial tax deduction.
If the subdivision project was ever to proceed, it would have to be substantially redesigned to
address current zoning and subdivision standards. Nonetheless, given your ability to obtain a
permit for the project in the past and the fact that the project is platted, it seems likely that the
donor value of a restriction would be based on the development value of the land.
As you may remember, when you requested a covenant extension in 1991 we explained that
neither the covenant nor the subdivision approval have specific expiration dates, but that the
project would loose its grandfathering eight years. In the summer of 1991, when Alex and I
spoke, I further explained that the subdivision condition that the project be built within two years
could potentially be extended by a request for a subdivision amendment, depending on whether
the subdivision rules had changed.
If you would like to discuss this further, please get in touch with me. As you know, you have a
marvelous piece of farmland in the heart of Leeds.
Sincerely,
Wayne Feiden, AICP
Director of Planning and Development
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