May 19, 2005

By Robert Mihalek

Village Council on Monday agreed to pursue the sale of one acre of the Glass Farm with two builders who would like to use the property to enhance a housing development next door.

Council voted 4–0 to authorize interim Village Manager Phil Hawkey to “enter into negotiations” with the developers, Cathy Phillips and Jonathan Brown, who operate Phillips-Brown Homes, for the sale of one acre of the farm, which the Village owns. Council member Jocelyn Hardman was absent.

Phillips-Brown plans to build a housing development on land it purchased from the Catholic Church on King Street and bordering the eastern third of the Glass Farm. Last month the company offered to purchase one acre of the Glass Farm.

In addition, Council agreed to work with Tecumseh Land Trust to place a conservation easement on the remaining eastern portion of the farm, which is about 13 acres, off King Street. Council president Tony Arnett said the Village would retain ownership of that part of the farm, and TLT would hold the easement.

Arnett noted that Council’s action did not address the usage of the rest of the farm.

Council made its decision after discussing the offer from Phillips-Brown in three executive sessions over the last two months, including Monday’s meeting. The discussions were not open to the public, although Council reopened the meeting to the public on Monday to vote.

Arnett described Council’s decision as a “good balance of action” that supports two official Council goals — supporting housing growth and promoting a commitment to green space preservation — which he also called two community goals. He said that he is “encouraged by the nature” of Phillips-Brown’s plans as well as the chance to preserve land that has historically been green space.

Council member Denise Swinger, who lives across the street from Phillips-Brown’s property and near the Glass Farm, and who participated in the vote, said that she appreciated the developers’ plan to build housing for middle-income families.

Phillips and Brown have offered to purchase the acre of the Glass Farm for $25,000, a price they said was based on their cost per acre for the Catholic Church property. They bought the 8.25-acre church parcel for $375,000, although the deal included the property’s old farmhouse.

Arnett said that Council could not discuss what the Village would ask for the land.

He also said that the Village has received legal advice saying that Council could sell the acre of land without placing it up for bid.

On Tuesday, Brown said, “We’re profoundly grateful for the support the community has shown for our efforts.”

According to the development plans Brown and Phillips presented at the May 9 Village Planning Commission, the first phase of the project includes 26 units on the eastern portion of the housing site. The estimated cost of the homes on the site will average between $135,000 and $250,000, Phillips-Brown reported.

The developers have incorporated into their plans energy-saving and cost-saving elements, such as shared driveways. The plan also includes a common green space as well as bikeways and walkways along the creek that divides the property.

The second stage of the plan, which has not yet been submitted to the Village for approval, is informally called Park Meadows 2 and includes 40 town houses on the remaining five acres on the western portion of the parcel.

“We feel we’re bending over backwards to make every effort to both use the land responsibly and to provide the kind of housing that nobody else seems willing to provide,” Brown said.

Phillips and Brown have said that the acre of the Glass Farm would improve the flow of traffic from the new development and the Kingsfield neighborhood across the street. The additional acre would allow them to build more homes with which they could divide costs, they have said.

After the meeting, Krista Magaw, the executive director of Tecumseh Land Trust, said that she was unsure whether the organization would be interested in holding an easement on part of the Glass Farm, though she said that TLT would seriously consider the proposal.

She said that it is “relatively unusual for us to have easements for parcels that have access to sewer and water.” Therefore, the land trust would “have to consider other reasons” to create and hold the easement, she said, explaining that such reasons could include the protection of water or a natural area.

Magaw said that the Village’s request would first be considered by the TLT executive committee, which will review the proposal and compare the farm to the land trust’s preservation criteria. If the executive committee approves the proposal, the matter would move on to the full TLT board.

If the board agrees to hold the easement, the land trust and the Village would negotiate what kind of protections to place on the farmland, Magaw said.