BOXFORD – GEORGETOWN LINE – A draft of a conservation restriction, proposed for The Willows senior housing project, will be presented to the Boxford Select Board for its comments at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 13.
Toll Brothers, a Fortune 500 national homebuilder, is proposing to construct 66 homes in an active-adult community on acreage that was once a part of the Price family’s Ingaldsby Farm that is protected by a conservation restriction.
The proposed development, which will include 33 duplex, townhouse-style residential buildings and a clubhouse with a pool, patio, pergola and walking paths, has already been approved by the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals and is being considered by the Conservation Commission.
The conservation restriction was drafted by a subcommittee, established by the Boxford Conservation Commission, for portions of The Willows at Boxford project site. It must have the approval of the Select Board and other town boards.
Environmental groups, including the Parker River Clean Water Assn., have been concerned that the new homes are close to Georgetown’s public wells, which serve about 9,000 residents. The Georgetown Water Board has expressed concern about five irrigation wells proposed to irrigate more than 800 trees and shrubs proposed for the site.
The Willows housing will be “nestled between two medium yield aquifers, shared between Boxford and Georgetown,” George Comiskey with the Parker River Clean Water Assn. wrote the state last month.
The Georgetown Water Board asked for more information on the flow of water from the irrigation wells.
The new homes will be served by an on-site private septic system and water supply.
For 100 years, the Ingaldsby Farm farm-raised and sold corn, pumpkins and offered apple picking and made cider donuts.
In 2011, Gordon Price said he would like the 300-plus acres of the historic farm preserved as agricultural or conservation land, but needed to secure his family’s financial future by selling 50 acres near the Washington Street farm stand.
