The Comstock farm will be preserved as agricultural space under an agreement using taxpayer-approved funds to preserve open space.
From Staff Reports
Portland Press Herald news story
A 99-acre farm in Scarborough is permanently preserved as agricultural space under an agreement using taxpayer-approved funds to preserve open space.
Using $270,000 in town funds, officials in June finalized a conservation agreement that permanently preserves the 99-acre Comstock farm on Beech Road in Scarborough. Since 2000, Scarborough residents have voted in multiple referendums to authorize more than $5 million in land bonds.
Currently the Comstock family has nine beef cattle, and hopes to expand to more than 25 to 30 head of cattle to begin selling the meat. The family has owned the land since 1965.
The Comstock agreement also creates a public walking trail on the property that will connect to an adjacent property that will eventually be developed as a public park.
“This project has a definite wow factor since its location provides an incredible opportunity to add value to (more than 500 acres) of land already permanently or partially protected,” Suzanne A. Foley-Ferguson, chairwoman of the Scarborough Parks and Conservation Land Board, wrote in a letter to the town council.
The easement was arranged and funded in cooperation with Maine Farmland Trust, Scarborough Land Trust, and the Town of Scarborough. In an earlier deal, the same group worked together to preserve Frith Farm, an organic farm.
