To the editor:

Questions that need to be asked about the North Andover CPA acquistion of Windrush Farm:

The town is planning to spend $2.5 million of our property tax-funded community preservation money to purchase 160 acres of land on the farthest end of town bordering the Boxford state forest.

An additional 35 acres is being purchased separately by Windrush Farm Therapeutic Equitation Inc. so that it can continue to provide horse-assisted therapy for people with disabilities. The continuation of this admirable cause, however, is not dependent on North Andover's purchase of an additional 160 acres, although Windrush plans to share the use of the total 200-plus acres.

Supposedly there is the potential for 28 house lots within this 160 acres, should it face development rather than conservation. Twenty-eight homes does not sound like very much on a parcel of land this large, which already contains considerable amounts of protected wetlands that cannot be developed anyway. The limited scale of this development does not come close to the overcrowding of other extinct farms such as Rea Farm, which destroyed the entire pastoral ambience of an established neighborhood or the similarly overbuilt development adjacent to Smolak Farms. What about the two house lots sold off right across from the Olde Town Common? Weren't these open areas worthy of preserving?

Have we, the payers of the CPA surcharge, been given any assurance that $2.5 million is a fair and realistic price in this economy's current real estate market? What other competing offers have come in for this property? Just because the money is coming from a general fund, doesn't mean it should be overspent or wasted unnecessarily.

What percentage of North Andover's population will actually make use of this land, given the generous amount of trails and forestland the town already has in more accessible and scenic locations, including the bordering Boxford State Forest itself? How many more large parcels of land do we need for this purpose? Does community preservation only mean wilderness forestland?

Wouldn't it also be important to know how much money is in the town's CPA funds and how much, if any, would be left over to address other projects more in the midst of our everyday life, such as the abandoned eyesore of the Bradstreet School and the soon to be abandoned police station? What about the unfunded dog park? What options are we missing out on to improve and preserve more commonly traveled areas of our community by distributing open space throughout town, rather than only at our extreme borders?

How much compactness and crowding will come to be if we do not preserve smaller parcels that protect open space we can all appreciate, such as when we drive by areas like the Stevens Coolidge Place and suddenly feel like we are far off from suburbia? Such spaces soothe the soul without even having to set foot on them, as well as providing the ambiance for a town, people will want to continue living in. Only after these questions have been answered, can an informed decision be made about how these CPA funds should be used in the best interest of all residents and neighborhoods.

Steve Tryder

North Andover