Bedford council approves amendment to Joppa Hill conservation easement, carving out 8.3-acre municipal zone

The Bedford Town Council on June 11 voted to authorize the town manager to work with the Piscataquog Land Conservancy to amend the Joppa Hill conservation easement, creating an exclusionary zone of about 8.3 acres and converting 25 acres currently in the MU (municipal‑use) zone to conservation.

The move, approved 7–0, follows a yearlong review by the Joppa Hill Road Conservation Area Committee. Committee members and town staff told the council the topography, wetlands and soil at the site make building or expanded recreation uses costly and environmentally disruptive. Committee member Chris Bandazian and former board chair Drew Klein reviewed recent mapping and field reconnaissance, saying much of the land adjacent to Joppa Hill Road is wetland and that slopes behind the recreation area would require extensive cut-and‑fill and large retaining walls to create usable fields or buildings.

Bandazian said the amendment would carve a municipal zone out of the impacted area most intensively used by the educational farm and provide an area for parking and farm activities while preserving the more sensitive surrounding land in conservation. He and other committee members said keeping prime farm soils and field‑nesting bird habitat intact was a priority. The committee recommended moving the town’s development potential onto already disturbed land on the farm parcel, noting the educational farm’s lease runs through 2065 and that moving the MU footprint to the farm preserves long‑term municipal options.

Several councilors asked whether uses such as solar panels, cisterns for fire protection, a columbarium or other municipal facilities had been considered; committee members said wetlands, slopes and access issues limited those options and that some uses—such as a cistern—would be better sited near the farm’s barn. Resident Dan Muscat, whose family originally owned the property, urged the council to keep the land open and said the original sale intended perpetual open space. Two other residents, including a recent Bedford arrival, also spoke in favor of preserving the farm and trails.

The motion to authorize the town manager to work with the land trust and to convert the MU acreage to conservation was made by Councilor Michael Strand and seconded by Councilor Kathleen Bemis; the council voted aye 7–0.

The council’s action directs staff to pursue the easement amendment with the Piscataquog Land Conservancy; any future specific municipal uses of the exclusionary zone would be subject to the town’s internal approvals.