Council OKs Mayor’s Request On UMass Waltham Fields Station

WALTHAM, MA — For months, the city and UMass have been in quiet talks regarding the future of the 58 acres in north Waltham commonly known as the UMass Field Station. The landlord, UMass, has communicated its intention to shutter the administrative offices at 240 Beaver Street by the end of the year. Tenants, residents and activists argue the property should be acquired by the city to be used for perpetual use as a farm and open space.

On Monday night, the city approved the mayor's request for the city to sign a Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Waltham and UMass that would halt any development with the UMass Field Station, while negotiations continue.

"During the Standstill Period... UMass shall not entertain, negotiate with others, accept offers, or otherwise market the UMass Field Station and shall allow that all current lawful tenants to remain at current rents during the period of time through December 2019," according to the agreement.

The city, in turn, agrees not to take any "action that does or may adversely impact the nature or value of the UMass Field Station."

The agreement wasn't a win win for everyone, though.

"This may seem promising," read an update to the anonymous petition to save the field station and farmland. "But the last time Waltham entered a similar land agreement with a seller, it was because negotiations were actually breaking down."

The author of the petition implored the more than 7,000 people who signed to ask the mayor to acquire the UMass property, to email the school's chancellor to find a way to safeguard the land ahead of the council meeting.

Also leading up to the meeting, City Councilor Sharline Nabulime criticized the city's process of negotiation with the university, which has been held in closed-door executive sessions, and seemed to be against possible repercussions of a standstill agreement.

"Nothing about this process has been transparent. Furthermore, this standstill will blot out the community's voice and the organizations housed therein. And we cannot stand for this," she wrote in a newsletter.

Nabulime voted against the memorandum.

The Waltham Field Station at 240 Beaver Street is by far the largest of the three existing farms in the city, and is known to have the best soils available in the city, if not the entire Metrowest region. It also isn't likely cheap, which worries some.

Still, Waltham Land Trust, a tenant of the site, along with a dozen other non-profits, educational programs and non-profit community groups, including Waltham Fields Community Farm, Boston Area Gleaners, Green Rows of Waltham Community Gardens, Grow Native Massachusetts, Mass Federation of Farmers Markets, Boston Area Climate Experiment and Massachusetts 4-H are also imploring residents to help save the land.

Tenants were put on notice this winter that they may be evicted because of a lack of action on the promised state bond bill that would fund the university's effort to build a Sustainability Education Center on the site, and left the university scrambling for solutions for the costly and aging infrastructure on the site.

When UMass acquired Mt. Ida College in Newton that raised new concerns about the university's plans for the Field Station and tenants.

Read more:

• Waltham Citizen Organizes Petition To Save Waltham Fields Farm
• Councilor To Host Meeting On Waltham Community Fields Farm
• Waltham Field Station Tenants Share Concerns

RELATED:

• Waltham UMass Field Station - Waltham Land Trust Statement
• UMass Amherst Proposes Center for Urban Sustainability at Former Waltham Experiment Station (2014)

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).