By Mike Dempsey – Reporter
GROVELAND – Have you bought your November Council on Aging Calendar Raffle Tickets yet? For $10 you can support the Friends of the Council on Aging and get a chance to win a daily drawing. Prizes are for cash, gift cards, goods, or services. Each win is worth from 50 dollars to 100 dollars. Participants can win multiple times!
November Calendar Raffle tickets are now available at the Council on Aging Office or at the Langley-Adams Library. Thanks to everyone who is supporting the largest annual fundraiser for the Council on Aging.
VEGOUT Market
The line forms before 10 a.m. at the tent behind the Groveland Police Station. Everyone in line has a bag to fill with free and fresh produce.
The VEGOUT market happens on alternate Tuesdays from 10-11:30 a.m. The Groveland Council on Aging collaborated with Nourishing the North Shore to provide fresh produce from local farms free of charge. The VEGOUT Market is open to everyone! Seventy-six people participated on August Fourth and received a total of four hundred and seventy two pounds of food.
The produce comes from local farms in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The produce is fresh, varied, and nutritious. The bi-weekly choices are always a surprise, but radishes, tomatoes, beets, corn, peaches, lettuce, greens, and apples have made an appearance. More unfamiliar vegetables such as Swiss chard, tomatillos, purple peppers, and edamame spark questions and encourage new recipes. Contact the Groveland Council on Aging at 978-372-1101 for more information.
What’s going on at 150 Center Street?
Have you driven past 150 Center Street lately? It’s also known as Strawberry Fields. What is going on there? A sign out front at the main entrance gave us a clue. It seems that a National Grid contractor is using the town’s land as a staging area. The town purchased the property along with other open space properties in 2013. That year, 63% of voters approved a 20-year bond to purchase the Strawberry Fields parcel. The town also received grants and Community Preservation funds to purchase three other parcels behind Strawberry Fields. Those three parcels have a conservation restriction on them to keep them as open space. The entire area is now officially known as Center Street Greenway. Why did voters approve the purchases at the ballot box and at town meeting? Groveland residents wanted to protect open space, preserve wildlife habitat, and most importantly protect our water supply. The Strawberry Fields parcel is the location of our town’s most important aquifer. It is the place that feeds the well that supplies much of the town’s water.
We followed up with town officials about the current use of the parcel at 150 Center Street. Our Select board voted to lease the parcel to National Grid for three years and they hope to net over 450 thousand dollars. National Grid is replacing all their wooden poles and electric structures on the transmission lines that run through the North Shore with metal posts. They are storing the metal posts at the site. Also, their contractors keep their construction vehicles parked there. Some residents were concerned about potential harm to our aquifer from the trucks leaking fuel and oil into the sandy soil. Others were concerned about the loss of walking trails through the parcel. The Select Board decided the funds paid to the town to use the parcel far outweighed any concerns and approved the lease.
New trail bridge in place
Earlier this year the Groveland Conservation Commission received Community Preservation grant funds to improve our trails. One of the projects covered by the grant is a trail bridge over Argilla Brook connecting the Community Trail to Center Street Greenway trails. The bridge was completed this past month by vendor, Northeast Trailworks, under the direction of the Commission. This is an exciting improvement to open more access to trails in the Greenway. Stay tuned for more trail news as the improvements continue.
New COA Director and Fire Chief Searches
Groveland is searching to fill two important positions, Council on Aging Director and Fie Chief. COA Director Alyssa Lee announced last month that she will be leaving to take on a new position as COA Director in Tyngsboro. Chief Robert Valentine announced he will be retiring. The Council on Aging has formed a search committee and started searching for a new Director. The town hopes to hire a temporary interim chief to fill that position until a search can be completed for a permanent chief. We wish both Alyssa and Robert the best as they pursue new challenges and thank them for their service to Groveland. ♦
