Farm stands and driveways vex Boxford Town Meeting

By Alan Burke
Staff writer

May 15, 2008 12:32 am

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BOXFORD — You just might be able to open a farm stand. But if you need a steep driveway to get there, forget it.

That was the message from last night's Town Meeting, where two issues sparked prolonged debate. A move to make it easier to operate a farm stand inspired fears of restaurants and even major retailers' "big-box stores" popping up all over town.

Advocates insisted the measure was intended to keep Boxford's farms going.

"Farms are important to sustain," Agricultural Commissioner Randy Johnson said, "because they connect us to our agricultural heritage."

"We're losing farms every day to the bulldozer," Bob Ford of the Planning Board said.

The article eliminated a requirement that more than 50 percent of stand sales come from items produced or created on the farm. Instead, it encouraged "agritourism," allowing hayrides, petting zoos, play areas and the sale of prepared food.

Resident Dan Lowry warned that the qualifications were too loose. He worried that some would use it as an excuse to get into retail.

"If one of these farms opens up in your neighborhood, you're not going to like it," he said.

Gerry Nissenbaum echoed Lowry's concerns.

"It is the end of rural Boxford," he said.

Advocates replied that the Planning Board has "site plan review" over any farm stand, allowing them to halt abuses.

"The Planning Board is not going to be allowing restaurants and Home Depots," Ford said.

The town was embroiled in a nearly decadelong legal battle over Ingaldsby Farm on Route 133, though an auditor eventually found that its farm stand abided by state law regarding how much of the merchandise sold there came from the farm.

The article, which needed a two-thirds vote, won 210-24.

Making the grade

Planning Board member Steve Merriam anticipated arguments against a bylaw regulating driveways. "Just what we've all been waiting for," he said, "the driveway bylaw."

He went on to cite the difficulties created when driveways are steep, including water runoff into busy streets turning into ice in winter. Steep driveways can also be difficult in emergencies.

"There's no process to verify that the Fire Department can actually drive up a driveway in an emergency," he said.

Existing driveways are exempt from the article.

Resident John McCormack said the measure could prevent building on some property, disadvantaging "highlanders" as opposed to the town's "flatlanders." Much of Boxford is hilly, he said.

"A taxpayer may be unreasonably denied the right to build a home for his family," McCormack said. The state sometimes builds roads at 15 percent grade, he said, while the new bylaw mandates driveways no steeper than 12 percent.

Later, a resident pointed out — to laughter — that the road up Mount Washington is, on average, a 12 percent grade. The new bylaw was approved 186-26.