Concord’s city council approved a committee recommendation Monday to seek a new farmer to work the publicly owned land behind the Loudon Road post office.
The decision represents a continuation of the status quo for the Gully Hill property, leaving open the possibility that it could host a park years down the road.
The land’s recent farmer notified the city last year that he’ll back out of his lease, which was set to expire in 2019, prompting a contemplation of the city-owned property’s future.
Based on an ad-hoc committee’s unanimous recommendation, the city council authorized the conservation commission to request proposals from farmers to take up a new lease for a maximum of three years, with an option to renew for two more years.
City Councilor Dan St. Hilaire, who was a member of the committee, noted: “We didn’t think the city would be doing anything tangible over the next three years on that piece of property.”
Both the lease and the renewal would be subject to city council approval, according to a report accepted by the council Monday and written by Carlos Baia, the deputy city manager for development.
The committee also recommended that the city not place a conservation easement on the land, which would permanently limit future opportunities there.
The parcel could become prime property – directly connected to downtown on a well-traveled route – if the ambitious plans for the Merrimack River Greenway Trail come to pass.
The Friends of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail hope to establish a paved trail through the city – connecting into a larger system that runs in either direction to Salem and Lebanon – that would travel through the farmland adjacent to the Merrimack River.
Although it was ranked favorably, the city was denied a federal grant last month that would have paid for an important link in that project. The $800,000 grant would have built a boardwalk extending from the southern end of the Gully Hill land to Terrill Park.
City Manager Tom Aspell said the lease would allow the city to opt out in case it has better luck next time with that grant.
“If that comes through next year, I can envision in the next two years the construction of that (boardwalk) taking place,” Aspell said. “When we design a lease, it should be in such a way that the trail can happen.”
The friends also hope that a footbridge crossing the river will be built in conjunction with the widening of Interstate 93. One such design envisions that bridge emptying directly into the Gully Hill fields.
Although that project would occur years down the road, it would support the ideas floated during committee meetings for the land as a park.
“Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a pedestrian bridge that would connect our downtown to a park made for people on the other side?” asked Dick Lemieux, the president of the Friends of the Merrimack River Greenway Trail, speaking only of his personal opinion.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @NickBReid.)