By Colin Young, News Staff
Northeastern University officials granted the Town of Ashland a two-week extension to continue environmental testing at the Warren Woods property last week. The land, currently owned by the university, is on track to be sold to the town for just over $5 million. The extension comes after the town’s Board of Selectmen threatened to back out of the deal unless they had more time to study the land.
At a July 13 meeting, the Ashland Board of Selectmen requested more time to conduct environmental studies and review property documents, Board Chair Jon Fetherston told The News.
“Initial results of the environmental review produced results that warrant further testing,” the board said in a statement from the meeting.
Fetherston said he received a letter from Northeastern CFO Thomas Nedell July 14 granting the town an extension to continue the studies. Nedell could not be reached for comment.
“The initial environmental tests conducted for the Town of Ashland in connection with its purchase of land owned by Northeastern were flawed,” Director of Communications Renata Nyul said in an email to The News. “The university granted a two-week extension so that new tests could be conducted.”
After the meeting, Fetherston told The MetroWest Daily News the initial findings were concerning to the Board and they felt additional tests were necessary as part of their exploration process.
“We have a concern, but we aren’t telling anyone at this point,” said Fetherston. “We are asking the university for more time so that we do our due diligence properly.”
In May, Ashland voters approved the approximately $5 million purchase at a special town meeting. Previously, the university rejected the town’s offer of $3.5 million for the more than 100-acre property.
The Warren Woods land is part of the Warren Conference Center and was formerly the farm and homestead of Henry and Edith Warren. When Henry Warren died in 1957, some of the property was donated to the university. Edith Warren donated the rest to the university a decade later. The original donations were made with provisions that the land be preserved, but those provisions have since expired and many citizens feared the land would be sold to a developer.
In March, Northeastern sold a 74.5-acre Whispering Hills Woods property located on Cambridge Road along the Woburn/Burlington town line to the City of Woburn for $6.7 million. The profits from both land sales will be used to reinvest in the university’s Boston campus.
