The Select Board Should Abide by the Special Town Meeting Vote

At the Special Town Meeting in February, residents voted by a meaningful margin for the Town to discontinue its lawsuit against Westwood Land Trust. But the Select Board has disregarded the outcome of the Special Town Meeting and is forging ahead with its lawsuit. Its stated reason is that the Select Board sees the Special Town Meeting vote as advisory only and that it’s fair for the Town to have a court determine what its rights are under the Clapboardtree Meadow conservation restriction (CR).

It should make no difference to the Select Board whether, as a legal matter, the vote was advisory or binding. As a matter of good community governance, the Select Board should follow the wishes of the majority and dismiss its lawsuit. Its failure to do so will needlessly continue to embroil the Town and the Land Trust in expensive, time-consuming, divisive litigation over an issue that the Special Town Meeting voted not to pursue and that has little prospect of an upside for the Town. (While the Town claims that the suit has cost the Town only a small five figure sum to date, that is because the Court has stayed discovery while it considers some early motions in the suit. The parties have yet to undertake discovery, trial preparation, trial, and appellate work, all of which can be expected to drive up the cost of the suit for both parties, not to mention the time it will take to get to an ultimate resolution.)

We question the Select Board’s asserted justification for continuing this suit—that the Town should have a court explain its rights under the CR. For approximately 25 years, the Select Board saw no reason to have a court explain the Town’s rights under the CR or to seek to convert Clapboardtree Meadow into farmland, as it seeks to do now. This issue came up only after the Bean Farm decided that it wanted to extend its farming operation into Clapboardtree Meadow.

The Town does not need a lawsuit to learn what its rights are. The CR is very clear. First, the Town cannot conduct or have others conduct an agricultural use on Clapboardtree Meadow without the Land Trust’s consent, which may not be unreasonably withheld. Second, the CR bars the Land Trust from consenting to a proposed agricultural use if the use would “materially impair the purpose of [the] Conservation Restriction or other significant conservation interests.”

The Land Trust’s decision to deny permission for an agricultural use was reasonable and was required by the CR’s terms. The Land Trust told the Town how the proposed agricultural use would materially impair the purpose of the CR and other significant conservation interests. It did that in public hearings and correspondence before the suit was filed and in papers filed in court. Among other things, the proposed agricultural use would have adverse effects on pollinators, birds, native plants, wetlands, animal life, and the view. The Land Trust is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to conserve land. The Land Trust was just doing its job and now finds itself on the wrong end of the Select Board’s lawsuit for performing its statutory responsibilities.

The Land Trust believes in its mission and that the Select Board’s lawsuit is ill-advised. Under the CR, the Town is required to reimburse the Land Trust for all reasonable costs and expenses (including without limitation counsel fees) incurred in enforcing the CR. So apart from the taxpayer dollars that will be spent in pursuing this lawsuit, the Town is also exposed to a reimbursement claim by the Land Trust if the court concludes that the Land Trust justifiably declined to consent to the Town’s request.

Even though the Land Trust had no hand in initiating or organizing the Special Town Meeting, the Land Trust appreciates those who voted in favor of dropping the Town’s lawsuit. We repeat our request that the Select Board dismiss the lawsuit, and we encourage Westwood’s taxpayers to keep telling the Select Board that they too want the Town to dismiss the suit and to respect the will of the Special Town Meeting.

Abby Homiller

Vice President, Westwood Land Trust, Inc.