Newbury
Tuesday night’s 174-123 vote at Newbury Elementary School allows the town to spend $25,000 toward the $461,000 funding package that the Vermont Land Trust has drawn from various private and public sources.
The special meeting was called after more than 100 petitioners sought a revote on the question, based on complaints that September’s 135-83 vote in favor of the purchase had not included enough public education, or participation.
Now, the town is expected to move forward with the purchase of a 142-acre parcel that includes a popular meadow with sweeping views at the top of Tucker Mountain from owners Ted and Deborah Leach.
It also will get a 493-acre parcel that includes the top of Woodchuck Mountain from the Leach family.
As the debate over whether to create the Newbury Town Forest has unfolded in the small town of 2,155 residents, the question came to represent a larger ideological clash between conservation and fiscal responsibility.
Hope Saunders, who voted in favor of the measure, said the most important reason to support the purchase was to protect the land from development.
“A lot of people didn’t understand that the 142-acre parcel was not under easement. It could be developed and become a site for houses or cabins,” she said.
Tucker Mountain was first placed under a conservation easement in 1992 by Phillip Leach, who died in 2003 at the age of 87, but the easement allows for some development of the mountain and does not guarantee public access, according to Friends of Tucker Mountain, a group that has lobbied in favor of the deal.
Resident Butch Spear, who voted against the measure, was one of many who said he wasn’t comfortable spending taxpayer dollars to increase the town’s assets.
“Taxpayers have already paid some of that money in,” he said, referring to the public funds that have been marshaled by the Vermont Land Trust. “It’s not only $25,000 to do this. And then there’s the money that we’ll have to pay going forward.”
The September vote capped hours of discussion, and in the months since, there have been various public education sessions and expressions of opinions in public forums.
Because the issue has been aired so thoroughly, voters from both sides agreed not to rehash the arguments again on Tuesday night, and instead moved directly to a vote, with most people having cleared the room within an hour.
Robert Atwood, owner of Tyler Farms, which once owned a part of the land being purchased, said the turnout of nearly 300 voters was higher than most of the Town Meetings he could remember.
“I voted against it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s necessary, because the land isn’t likely to be sold or developed.”
Other voters, like Mark Putnam and former postmaster Olive Wilson, said they were against the deal because they felt the town should, as a general rule, own as little real estate as possible.
Supporters of the Newbury Town Forest have offered assurances that ongoing costs to maintain the property, which could include a costly repair for the Tucker Mountain access road, will be largely offset by donations and the harvesting of the land’s natural resources, such as timber.
The access road, they said, is in immediate need of repair and may not be able to wait for alternative funding sources to materialize.
Friends of Tucker Mountain have touted the value of the land’s recreational activities, which include opportunities for hunting, picnicking, hiking, snowshoeing and bird-watching. They’ve also suggested that it could be incorporated into the curriculum of area schools as “an outstanding natural laboratory for learning about plants, wildlife, water resources and forest management.”
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.