Freetown Conservation Commission Rejects $165,000 Richmond Road Land Purchase

FREETOWN — April 9, 2024 — Freetown Conservation Commission unanimously voted to recommend against a $165,000 purchase of two Richmond Road parcels already protected by conservation restrictions. Conservation Agent Victoria told the board that the parcels, identified as Map 204/207 Lots 38 and 111, carry existing conservation restrictions on most of the acreage, leaving only about four acres near the roadway — zoned residential and potentially developable — that would gain meaningful new protection through a purchase. With only slightly more than $100,000 in the commission's land fund, the board could not have covered the price in any case, and Chair Charlie moved the commission to pass that recommendation to the Select Board. The commission also approved renewed bridge permits for a Crossroads Drive barbecue structure and a Department of Conservation and Recreation trail bridge in the Freetown-Fall River State Forest, and granted a three-year extension of an order of conditions for the Lamb's Village project on East Chipaway Road.