The Cheshire Herald writes about our new five-year lease for the Boulder Knoll Farm property! The new lease will allow us to pursue great new opportunities and expand our efforts!
The Friends of Boulder Knoll has used some acreage on the farm to build a community garden, and has harvested vegetables the last two seasons. The Town initially approved a one year lease, then changed it to a three-year rolling lease for the Friends, extending it one year every spring.
However, a request was made by current Friends of Boulder Knoll President Bob Giddings to extend the lease to five years. Giddings explained the extension would help in two ways. First, the Friends of Boulder Knoll would like to plant perennial crops, such as raspberries and blueberries, but to justify those plantings “a longer look forward is needed,” he wrote in a letter to the Town Council. Secondly, a longer lease term will help the group secure grant money from organizations like the United States Department of Agriculture and the Natural Resources Conservation Services.
“It is much easier to obtain grants if you have an established track record, which we now have, and a good prospect for long-term stability, which the lease term extension would help provide,” Giddings told the Council.
Councilman James Sima explained that the amended lease will allow the group to obtain more funding and a new clause was added to protect the Town. The new provision added is a surrender clause that would be invoked at the termination of the lease. The clause states that the lessee, the Friends of Boulder Knoll, would need to leave the property in good condition and cannot remove any plantings on the property.