Date: Fri 12-Mar-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: LISA

Quick Words:

easement-P&Z-Castle-Hill-Farm

Full Text:

Farm Owners Ask For Exemption From Easement

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

In a legal request, the owners of Castle Hill Farm are asking the Planning and

Zoning Commission (P&Z) to exempt them from a provision which would allow the

P&Z create a pedestrian/bridle trail easement on the farm if the farm is

resubdivided in the future.

Farm owners Stephen Paproski and his sister, Gloria Horbaty, are asking that

the P&Z not exercise its option to create a pedestrian/bridle easement on the

farm in the event that they resubdivide the farm to provide land to their

family members.

In a March 4 letter to the P&Z, Attorney Daniel Casagrande, representing the

two owners, recommends that the P&Z modify its February 18 action which

created the Cornfield Ridge subdivision to exempt the two owners from the

pedestrian/bridle trail easement provision.

In that action, the P&Z split off 34 acres from Castle Hill Farm to create 18

residential building lots along Castle Hill Road. In that action, P&Z members

opted against immediately requiring an open space easement across Castle Hill

Farm for pedestrians and horseback riding, as had been recommended to the P&Z

by the Conservation Commission.

The P&Z, however, approved an option to allow itself to create a 10-foot-wide

open space easement for pedestrian and equestrian use along the western edge

of the farm, if the remaining section of the farm is resubdivided, at some

point in the future.

In his letter, Mr Casagrande asks that the P&Z modify its February 18

subdivision action, so that the potential pedestrian/bridle easement "shall

not be exercised by the town if the purpose of any resubdivision and/or

transfer of any portion of Lot 19 (farm) is the conveyance of Lot 19 or any

such portion to a family member of either Stephen Paproski or Gloria Horbaty."

P&Z members briefly discussed the request at the March 4 session. P&Z Chairman

Daniel Fogliano said he will refer the matter to the P&Z attorney Robert

Fuller for review.

Late last month, Stephen Paproski and his wife, Diana, said they are upset

that P&Z members approved a possible future open space easement on the farm.

At a January public hearing on the subdivision proposal, Diana Paproski spoke

strongly against allowing an easement on the farm for bridle trail use, saying

it would infringe on farming.

Stephen and Diana Paproski of Sugar Lane will now be farming on a smaller

scale because another Paproski family member is selling off the 34-acre piece

of Castle Hill Farm to provide land for the 18 new homes.

The development project will remove about one-third of the dairy farm from

agricultural use for new home construction. The land planned for home

construction formerly was used for corn production by the farm. That section

of Castle Hill Farm is considered the farm's best area for growing. It has

rich upland soils and sits on a ridge top.