Case Estates saved, for now

The Case Estates in Weston, Massachusetts, is a lovely 62-acre parcel of farmland and forest. As a remote branch of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum, it used to have a glorious perennial garden, along with many other areas of botanical interest. When I was studying landscape design I used to visit there quite regularly to observe particular plants, or just to roam and enjoy.

In recent years, the Arboretum has lost interest in maintaining it and I haven't gotten out there as often, and then I was saddened to hear that Harvard had decided to sell it off. But on Wednesday, the Town of Weston, in a special Town Meeting, decided almost unanimously to purchase the land. They may have to sell off some parcels to raise the money to keep it, but they hope to preserve the majority of it as open space. That's really good news!

Here are maps of the land as it is now and the development plan that it's been saved from:

In a small bit of irony, as part of one of my landscape design classes, we once actually drew up development plans for Case Estates. But even as students, our plans were more sensitive than the one presented here. We used methods like cluster development and co-housing to preserve a large part of the land while concentrating the housing in limited areas.

As part of this project, we toured the entire area, and made lots of photographs and conceptual designs, and became intimately familiar with every bit of the property. Even though that was over ten years ago, I can still remember the contours of the land, what parts were forested and what parts were open, and where the wetlands are. To just slap a bunch of 2-acre lots on the site like this plan does is just sick and depressing, and I'm thrilled that the Town of Weston has stepped up to save it from this fate.

Comments

[raines]

Do you still have the cohousing plans? I'm sure a group would be interested in doing something that preserved the green while clustering development.

[Diana Chaplin]

I recently went to the selectmen's meeting interviewing candidates for the board to come up with a plan for the Case Estates. The selectmen started off by saying "There is already an architect, an architect/builder, a builder, and a historian on the committee, so clearly we need more builders". It gives you an idea about what the town is planning...

[Diana Chaplin]

Not to say that I'm entirely opposed to building -- as a http://www.greatestate.com real estate agent in Weston I know that development has its place, I agree that we should look for some kind of mixed-use solution.

[Deviant Deziner]

My only hope is that there will be sensitivity to the existing horticultural treasures on this pristine piece of property.
Perhaps they can hire the former head horticulturist Patrick Willoughby ( whom I interned under while I was a horticultural intern stationed at the The Case Estate in 1986 ) to oversee the horticultural preservation. I believe he presently oversees the Wellsley College campus.

If Patrick is unavailable then the next best person for the job would be Peter del Tredici.