Voters approved launching a government study, and taping all future Town Meetings and Finance Committee meetings.
MONSON – The late Jean Porwoll wanted to ensure that her 60 acres of woodland on Reimers Road would be protected for years to come, so she contacted Leslie A. Duthie, Conservation Commission chairwoman, to make it happen.
Porwoll, a former Conservation Commissioner herself whom Duthie described as her mentor, had fallen ill, and did not want the land to be developed.
“My goal was to carry out Jean’s wish,” Duthie said.
On Monday night, voters at the annual Town Meeting granted that wish. They approved the acquisition of the property by the Conservation Commission from the Jean M. Porwoll Trust, restricting it from future development and guaranteeing its preservation for wildlife and agriculture.
Porwoll, the director of emergency services at Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer for 25 years, died in August. She was on the Conservation Commission from 1992 to 2004. Duthie described Porwoll as “very smart” and knowledgeable about wetlands issues.
The house on the property was not part of the acquisition, Duthie said. She said the land is fairly wet, and near 12 Mile Brook.
“Hopefully some day we will have public trails to memorialize Jean, who really loved her property,” Duthie said.
Voters rejected a donation of two lots – 25,374-square-feet and 65,785-square-feet – on McCray Circle owned by Charles Richard. The lots were to be kept as open land under the jurisdiction of the Conservation Commission, and not to be developed, but critics of the proposal won out. One said the acquisition would benefit some immediate neighbors, but not the entire town.
Finance Committee Chairman James Pennington said he has a problem with landowners who have land they cannot build on who want to “dump it back on the town.”
“I think it’s a wrong move,” Pennington said.
In other Town Meeting news, voters approved launching a government study, and taping all future Town Meetings and Finance Committee meetings.