There was a great moment of clarity at the East Longmeadow Community Preservation Committee the other night.

On the agenda was one thing: the fate of the historic train depot building. In case you’re new to the story, the depot is owned by Stephen Graham but is located on land owned by Jay Lefebvre.  Lefebvre announced last year his intent to develop the property in the center of town as the location of a mosque.

The plans for the mosque are incomplete at this time and Graham has the possibility of donating the train depot to Storrowton Village at the Big E.

The committee was considering if it should ask the town to consider buying Jay Lefebvre’s property at the cost of $1.3 million in order to “save” the depot.

Thomas Wilson of the committee noted correctly these were two issues. The depot could be moved several hundred feet along the town-owned rail trail, therefore negating the need to spend any money on the land, as committee member George Kingston suggested.

The purchase of the property wouldn’t be to save the train depot, but rather to preserve it for future development, Wilson explained. At this time there are no plans in place for the property.

East Longmeadow has only so much money to spend on projects and apparently there are already plans to expand the use of the Heritage Park property.

Spending a bunch of cash for a property that at this time no one really knows what to do with strikes me as a tad premature.

What do you think?

Urban farming
So I was talking with my son-in-law the other day and he admitted a desire to have chickens and ducks at his suburban home.

Don’t worry, he doesn’t live in East Longmeadow or Longmeadow.

Now the reaction from my daughter made me understand this wasn’t going to happen, but sensing an opportunity to voice my opinion safely, I chimed in.

Are you going to build a coop? Do you think your neighbors will appreciate free-roaming chickens? Do you understand the by-products of ducks and chickens are free flowing? Your property abuts conservation land – are you prepared for predators who seek chickens and ducks as dinner? How are the youngest two children going to react to the “circle of life?” What are you going to do in the winter?

My volley of questions amused my son-in-law. He is a person of great confidence, but I knew our daughter would nip this idea in the bud.

Urban – or suburban farming – is a great idea if the people involved understand what is required and the impact your decision makes on neighbors.

My idea is to grow vegetables. I can do that in my backyard in Springfield without bothering anyone. Now, if chickens were legal for me to have, I’d considered a couple of hens for eggs, but I know a four-season coop would need to be constructed and the chickens require protection from predators such as domestic cats.

Chickens – no roosters allowed – still make noise and they still produce manure, which smells and must be managed. Some neighbors may object.

Any animal larger than a chicken and you have real manure management and noise issues. I’m a farm boy. I know.

Plus livestock – sheep, goats, pigs, and cows – need space to move and generally walking your herd on the sidewalk is not a good idea.

I know it sounds sort of cool to have a four-legged friend other than a dog or cat in the back yard. Are you prepared for the vet bills? How about if you have a milk animal? Heaven help you if you decide to go that route because I can tell you that is a 365-day committment.

People may have the best intentions in attempting to be more self-sufficient. In our family’s case, it was a six-acre small farm in a rural area of Granby. Sitting on a third-acre lot in a suburban area generally is not the place for livestock.

Here is my advice: grow a garden instead of a big lawn. Just because you live in a ranch, doesn’t mean you have to have one.

As far as my own family discussion went, it was finally decided a more prudent course of action was for everyone to grow the legal number of pot plants, pool the results and sell it.  I betting my neighbors wouldn’t object to that!

As always these are my words and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publishers or advertisers of Reminder Publications.