IPSWICH — Boston has the Emerald Necklace, a string of linked parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted that provide green oases in what is often a concrete and asphalt urban desert.
Ipswich didn't have the benefit of such an august designer, but its soon-to-be-completed "green ring" didn't develop by accident, either.
To see why, you have to go back to the 2000 Annual Town Meeting and what may ultimately be viewed as one of the most important events in this town's rich history.
Voters at the time were asked to authorize borrowing up to $10 million to preserve open space for recreational or agricultural use, or to protect the town's drinking water supply, or simply because development was seen as unwise.
The measure drew overwhelming approval.
Today, $3.4 million remains available in the Open Space Bond Fund, and 516 acres have been protected, at a cost to the town of about $6 million. On its own, the town would have gone through the money long ago and secured only half as much land.
But by adroitly parlaying partnerships with other organizations, officials have secured an additional $6 million in outside funding that extended its purchasing power.
The largest transaction was approved at this year's Special Town Meeting, $2.2 million — which will decrease the available funding to $1.2 million — to purchase agricultural and conservation restrictions on nearly 250 acres of Maplecroft Farm on the eastern outskirts of town.
It is the kind of cooperation the Open Space Committee and other town officials and committees have used to leverage open space money over the years.
Two state agencies are jointly contributing $2.4 million of the $5.1 million purchase price, while the nonprofit Essex County Greenbelt is raising the remaining $500,000.
It was the 13th piece of property the town either purchased or placed under use restrictions since the program began.
"There's always been a very strong sense in the community that part of the character of the town is its open spaces," said Town Planner Glenn Gibbs, who has lived in Ipswich since 1994. "Citizens recognized there were key parcels that were unprotected."
The first deal negotiated with open space money was also the most highly leveraged, although not the most visible.
For just $300,000, the town was able to stop a development on 40 acres in the middle of Willowdale State Forest in June 2001. What is now the state Department of Conservation and Recreation pitched in $2.4 million, and Topsfield added $100,000.
The bargain also highlighted key provisions of the fund. First, since borrowing up to $10 million was authorized at the ballot box initially, subsequent bonds didn't have to go on the ballot. Second, the selectmen were authorized to spend up to $1.5 million without getting approval at Town Meeting.
"Deals come up that can't always wait for Town Meeting," Gibbs said. "But there was a feeling really big deals should."
Prior to Monday night's vote, the town had spent more than $1 million for an individual property only two other times. Both of those transactions, Strawberry Hill on Jeffreys Neck Road and Scott Farm on Mill Road, protected more than 80 acres each.
Next up, playing fields
Residents owe a huge debt of gratitude to other benefactors. The Appleton and Crane families left their sizable land holdings in the care of the Trustees of Reservations. Combined, Appleton Farms and the Crane Estate, which includes the landmark Crane Beach, contain nearly 2,600 acres of protected agricultural land and open space.
For perspective, that's well more than the size of the entire town of Swampscott.
In addition, large swaths of the New England Biolabs and Turner Hill golf course properties are protected under the town's Great Estates Bylaw.
But it hasn't always been size alone that compelled a town purchase.
Great Neck, with stunning views of Plum Island Sound and the Ipswich and Eagle rivers, has been the subject of concern about development for years.
On Jan. 31, 2007, the town wrapped up negotiations to permanently protect 85.5 acres on Great Neck, in another highly leveraged deal that cost just $283,000. The rest of the $1.7 million purchase price came from a variety of state, federal and private sources.
Besides precluding some development, the sale also protected coastal wetlands that are critical for migratory birds.
Similarly, the Maplecroft deal forestalls development but will also complete a vision residents have time and again said they prize: a "green ring" that greets visitors along every corridor into town.
The open space program has drawn some criticism, primarily because so far no space has been set aside permanently for badly needed youth playing fields. Ipswich Youth Soccer is guaranteed use of fields at Maplecroft for three years but will have to negotiate yearly after that.
The national nonprofit Trust for Public Lands will hold the purchase-and-sale agreement for the farm. The organization's project manager, Christopher LaPointe, told School Committee members before last week's Town Meeting that despite months of negotiations, the seller, the Raymond family, would not agree to providing space for active recreational activities on any of the rest of the property.
Beth O'Connor, the town's open space stewardship coordinator, noted it takes two parties to make a deal.
"We can only do what we have willing landowners to do it with," O'Connor said.
School officials were promised that all attempts will be made to dedicate the money remaining in the fund to securing playing fields, and planners say there are things happening behind the scenes that can't be discussed publicly.
Kristen Grubbs is the Open Space Bond Fund program manager, and she thinks the actions taken by voters nine years ago distinguish Ipswich from other towns.
"I've done this work in other places, and I've never seen anything like this," Grubbs said. "It's phenomenal."
Saving open space in Ipswich
Date of purchasePropertySizeTown's costFunds from other sources
June 2001Willowdale40 acres$300,000$2.2 million
August 2001Scott Farm83.5 acres$1.45 million$2.55 million
January 2002 Smolenski16.9 acres$12,140$17,760
March 2002Strawberry Hill106 acres$2.5 million$1.5 million
May 2002Ross property29.5 acres$78,000$117,000
April 2002Bush Hill13 acres$0 (tax taking)$0
April 2003Dow Brook34 acres$151,200$198,800
December 2003Gaspar property22.1 acres$33,000$0
November 2006Turkey Hill22.5 acres$580,000$0
December 2006Shady Creek44 acres$35,400$74,600
January 2007Great Neck85.5 acres$283,000$1.41 million
June 2008Lynch Farm19.2 acres$487,500$487,500
Net result: Using $5.9 million of the town's money (plus $634,760 in administrative fees), planners were able to secure an additional $6 million from outside sources to purchase or protect 516.2 acres.
That leaves the Open Space Bond Fund with about $3.5 million in available bonding. The purchase restrictions on Maplecroft Farm will eat up $2.2 million of that.
