Cover crop seeded last fall can be seen on Monday. Last year’s left over corn stalk remnants are also seen in the photo. (Photo by Tom Smith)
WESTFIELD – A local farmer said Tuesday that his family has cultivated grain crops on the property of the Wielgus Trust for more than a decade, countering a position taken by the city which is seeking to take 33 acres of that land.
Mike Kosinski said that he has leased the Wielgus property since the late 1990s.
“So we’ve been farming that land for the past 12 or 13 years,” Kosinski, whose family owns farm stands on Shaker Road and Russellville Road, said. “Right now I have a crop of winter wheat that I will harvest later this spring and then I’ll get a crop of soy beans in there for a fall harvest. Last year I grew a crop of winter rye, then corn.”
Above is the Alice Wielgus farm as seen on Monday. The process of plant succession is evident as farms left to stand without being cultivated quickly become fertile seed beds for the surrounding trees. Around this farm are quick germinating trees such as Cottonwood, Swamp Maple, Stag Horn Sumac, and White Pine. There are no tree or shrub seedlings anywhere on the cultivated portion of the farm. (Photo by Tom Smith)
Kosinski said he “rents a lot of land, almost 450 acres in Westfield.”
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said that he was notified by the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs that the Wielgus property was not being actively cultivated for the past several years.
“We’re taking the position that it is not a working farm until someone shows me a lease document,” Knapik said yesterday morning. “If it is proven to be a working farm, it only adds another step in the (eminent domain) taking process.”
“State law requires a public hearing as part of that process if it is a working farm,” Knapik said.
The Wielgus property lies between Main Street and the Westfield River, with frontage from the Studio 5 Danceware at 146 Main Street to the Fenton Leasing property.
Northern portion of Alice Wielgus’ farm Monday. (Photo by Tom Smith)
The City Council is currently reviewing the Order of Taking for 33 acres of the Wielgus Trust property. The Council’s Finance Committee voted 2-0 to give a positive recommendation to the full council for the appropriation of $260,000 to pay for the property taken by the city. The issue was sent to the council’s Legislative & Ordinance Committee for further review. Eminent domain takings require a supermajority of the City Council, an affirmative vote of nine (9) members to be approved. Last Thursday the council, on a recall vote of 8-4 approved the referral of the eminent domain taking to the L&O.
Corn crop on Alice Wielgus farm last September. (Photo by Tom Smith)
Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell requested a roll call vote on the referral, which was approved. O’Connell and At-large Councilors David A. Flaherty, Cindy Harris and Dan Allie cast the dissenting votes to refer the Finance Committee’s recommendation to the L&O.
The Wielgus land taking is directly linked to the Ashley Street elementary school construction project as a result of a Article 97 suit filed by Cross Street residents.
Article 97 provides legal protections to deter development that would consume park land. Article 97 proscribes a remedy to park land takings called a conversion process in which new land is developed to replace the park land taken for a project, the school construction. The city has complied with the Article 97 conversion to replace 1.37 acres of the Cross Street playground with the proposed purchase of 33 acres from the Weilgus Trust.
The entire Article 97 issue is further clouded by court decisions, made after Hampden Superior Court Judge Tina Page issued the temporary restraining order in early September, 2012, in which the courts limited Article 97 protection and distinguished between parks and playgrounds.
At-large Councilor James R. Adams said the city’s interest in acquiring the Wielgus property far outdates the Ashley School project. Adams said he began to discuss the purchase of the property from the Wielgus family six or seven years ago.
“We knew back then that we needed additional ball fields and this is a big piece of land, prime land with about two feet of loam where we could go in and just make the ball fields,” Adams said. “We’ve been trying to negotiate with Alice (Wielgus) for a long time, trying the friendly route where both sides are happy, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. The school project was not in the picture then.”
Adams said the original discussion was for a larger piece of the property, including the house at 170 Main Street, located next to the Fenton Leasing complex and for a purchase price substantially higher than the $260,000 attached to the eminent domain taking.
“I’m hoping that we can bring that number up, but right now we’re limited by the legal process,” Adams said. “I’d rather see a deal for a higher amount.”
Adams said the city has funding available, money paid to the city by the state when the Tekoa Reservoir in Montgomery was placed under a conservation restriction. The state paid the city $1 million, informally called “fish money,” to use for open space acquisition. The city tapped that fund for just under $200,000 to purchase the Boardman property on Montgomery Street next the Westfield High School that was then developed into athletic fields.
“I think we could use that pot of money to benefit the entire city,” Adams said. “We could develop a ball-field complex to bring tournaments, and revenue from those, into the city.”
Adams said the location of the fields is next to the Westfield River Levee which city officials hope to develop into the Riverwalk Trail as an extension of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail and that the Wielgus property could be developed to provide parking facilities and access to the Riverwalk Trail.
Alice Wielgus is currently represented by Attorney Robert Quinn of the Springfield law firm of Egan Flanagan & Cohen.
