Westwood Needs to Defend Its Property Rights at 665 Clapboardtree Street (and elsewhere)

Many have stated that the Select Board has not explained the reason for the Town to file the lawsuit and refusal to drop the lawsuit. I think if you take the time to listen to Select Chair Marianne Leblanc-Cummings speech at the February 2nd, 2026 Special Town Meeting, she provided a clear explanation.

After months of trying to negotiate a reasonable compromise with the Westwood Land Trust (WLT) the WLT threatened to take legal action if the Town did not withdraw its request to allow farming on 665 Clapboardtree Street (by the Bean Farm or Community Farming).

Based on this, Select Chair Leblanc-Cummings said:

“Left with the choice of giving up the town rights to the land or asking the court to decide them, which was the step of last resort, we decided that we had a duty not to give up the property rights of the town --that we needed to be able to rely upon exceptions carved out in conservation restrictions of town property.”

At the March 9th Select Board Meeting, Chair Marianne Leblanc-Cummings stated that the lawsuit has no present activity and is simply waiting for the judge to rule on the case. Presumably, at this time, there are no on-going expenses; the Town has spent $15,300 so far.

I believe that the Town must not abandon its rights to 665 Clapboardtree Street (or any other Town owned property). To encourage the Select Board to continue the lawsuit defending the Towns property rights on March 8th, I sent the following email to the Town Administrator and the Select Board:

March 8th Email:

I am writing to express my support for the Select Board and their decision to seek a Declaratory Judgment regarding the property at 665 Clapboardtree Street. I believe it is imperative that the Town stays the course and allow the Judge to rule. Furthermore, it is my belief that if the Judge rules in favor of the Town, the Westwood Land Trust (with the backing of their wealthy donors) intend to file an appeal.

In anticipation of the potential appeal, I have contacted Town Counsel Pat Ahearn to determine if I (and other like-minded people) would be allowed to finance any ongoing expenses the Town might incur to see the litigation through to its conclusion. After researching the issues, Town Counsel Ahearn advised me that it would be allowed. I subsequently left a message for Finance Director Stephanie McManus to learn what the procedure will be to transfer funds and designate it for use in financing the lawsuit.

I believe there is tremendous support in Westwood for the Town’s effort to support local farming and exert their right to allow farming on the land at 665 Clapboardtree Street. This support is demonstrated by the 665 signatures (an amazing coincidence) on the Change.org petition that I started to support the Select Board in its effort to help preserve local farming in Westwood. The Bean farm also collected 479 Westwood residents’ signatures and 542 non-residents’ signatures, supporting their efforts to expand the farm.

I believe that Erin Sibley is attempting to pressure the Select Board to drop the pending litigation based on the vote on the issue at the Special Town Meeting (433 to 335 supporting her articles). However, I think that it is important that you consider three issues regarding the vote:

1) By her own words, her supporters put out 4000 flyers to encourage Westwood residents to attend the Special Town Meeting and support her articles. The 433 votes in support of her articles represent approximately 11% of the 4000. Should we infer that 89% of the recipients either oppose her articles or don’t care enough to attend?

2) The FinCom meeting regarding the issue made it clear that the Special Town Meeting vote on the articles was not binding on the Select Board. This may have discouraged many of those with an opinion on the issue from taking the time to attend the Special Town Meeting.

3) As the Town has learned from FS-1, the vote at a Town Meeting is not always reflective of how the majority of Westwood voters feel about an issue. In two separate Town meetings, FS-1 was approved by the attendees at the meetings. In each case, when the FS-1 proposal was put to a Town vote, it was defeated.

I don’t think you will find another Land Trust or Massachusetts Town that is not actively supporting their remaining local farm, much less opposing them. The WLT has been ridiculed in the local newspapers (see Boston Globe) and local news stations. They are embarrassing Westwood in their refusal to compromise.

Thanks for your consideration,

Andy Moore

If you are interested, below is a copy of an article I wrote on 3/6/2026 for the Westwood Minute expressing the opinion that it does not make sense for the Town or the WLT to drop the lawsuit.

Why is the Westwood Land Trust desperately seeking to have the lawsuit regarding the Conservation Restriction on 665 Clapboardtree Street dropped?

In an effort to sway public opinion, the Westwood Land Trust (WLT) has run full page ads in the local papers, created a video and sent mass mailings to Westwood’s residents explaining their position regarding the interpretation of the Conservation Restriction that is in place on 665 Clapboardtree Street. Leaving aside the question of whether this is a reasonable, valid expenditure of the Trust’s funds, why would they want the lawsuit dropped before the judge can rule on the suit?

If the WLT is correct in their interpretation of the CR, the judge will rule in their favor, and they will be allowed to maintain the land as a meadow and not allow it to be farmed. Like the Town, they have already expended the legal funds to defend their position. It makes no sense for the WLT to pressure the Town to drop the lawsuit (if the WLT believes their position is correct) as both the Town and the WLT would be back in the same position -- each believing that their interpretation of the CR is correct. Neither side would have a legally binding decision regarding what is the correct interpretation. Both sides will have wasted their funds on a lawsuit that was not allowed to proceed to its conclusion with a ruling by the judge.

Similarly, it makes no sense for Westwood to drop the lawsuit at this point; the funds (approximately $15,000) have been expended and cannot be recovered, and at this point, there are no significant on-going legal expenses. Westwood needs to know what its rights are (if any) with respect to 665 Clapboardtree Street and other lands which the Town owns, but on which the WLT holds Conservation Restrictions. The Select Board needs to stay the course and allow the judge to do her job.

In my opinion, common sense will tell you that the WLT believes that the judge will rule against them and, as such, is desperate to have the lawsuit dropped.