Cheshire Receives Boulder Knoll Grant
4/12/07
by Leslie Hutchison
Copyright © 2007 The Cheshire Herald
It took seven years to get the money from the state, but Town Manager Michael Milone announced Tuesday night that the $450,000 grant to purchase Boulder Knoll Farm is finally in the town’s coffers. The town purchased the 88-acre agricultural property in 2000 for $1.5 million with the state grant used as part of the purchase cost.
The farm was the last working dairy farm in Cheshire and had been owned and operated by the Lassen family since 1902. The grant payment was delayed for years due to a number of issues including the need to conduct remediation of certain areas on the farm. The funding from the state Department of Environmental Protection required that two farm dumps be closed in a manner following modern environmental requirements.The town hired a firm in 2004 to do the dump clean up and install test pits.
On Tuesday, the Town Council voted to appropriate the grant money into the town’s open space land account. According to a memo from Finance Director Patti-Lynn Ryan, “Since this grant is in effect a reimbursement for funds originally provided by the land account, it most be officially appropriated for this account to restore its balance.” Milone said the funds in the account will now total $1.52 million. The money “may be used for major improvements or for more open space acquisition.”