Lawyer says Westwood officials can require sprinklers at Wildstar Farm

The convoluted permitting process for Wildstar Farm has taken another turn, with Town Counsel Tom McCusker changing his mind in a memo last week about whether the Planning Board can require a sprinkler system on the project.

The Planning Board's review and discussion of the proposed elite horse dressage barn has revolved around public safety and fire protection - with sprinklers a crucial issue.

Wildstar proponents have put forward an extensive fire protection and prevention plan but do not want to install sprinklers in their barn, which they say would be exceedingly expensive and would not save the structure if it were to catch on fire. Neighbors who oppose the project have repeatedly expressed their concerns about the perceived fire risks to their neighborhood and to the adjoining Lowell Woods posed by Wildstar, saying that sprinklers are absolutely necessary.

Fire Chief William Scoble has raised numerous issues, saying truck access would be difficult and water supply problematic. He said the best way to provide higher fire protection would be to put sprinklers in the barn.

The project - which includes a 22-stall horse barn, outdoor riding ring, indoor arena, and associated corrals and paddocks - would go up on a 12.78-acre property at 401 Sandy Valley Road. The farm could hold up to 25 horses.

PDF: Read the town counsel's memo

The Planning Board is conducting an environmental impact and design review, part of a site plan review.

McCusker told the board it could put in a requirement for sprinklers, but he did not think that would be upheld by the courts. However, as he looked again at case law since the last Wildstar meeting June 23, he found two cases that led him to conclude that, give public safety concerns, the board does have the option to require sprinklers.

"In considering the holdings in Cumberland Farms, Prudential Insurance, the concerns expressed by the fire chief, the location of the site and the configuration of the roadway, it would not be unreasonable for the Planning Board to include in its decision a requirement for a sprinkler system," McCusker wrote in his memorandum last week.

"Based upon those two cases, I think there's a reasonable probability that the court might" uphold such a condition, McCusker said Thursday. He added he wants board members "to know exactly what their options are."

At issue is what would constitute "reasonable regulation" of the project under the state agricultural exemption. Neighbors' attorney Luke Legere has called on the Planning Board to include sprinklers, saying they "are a reasonable condition" because of public safety - or to simply deny the project.

In his memo, McCusker gives the board more leeway on sprinklers - and also opens the door to a project denial.

"We respectfully disagree with Tom's analysis of the law," said Daniel Hill, attorney for Wildstar owners Polly Kornblith and Michael Newman. Hill said the way the law stands today, towns have the zoning authority to reasonably regulate agricultural projects, but not to deny them.

"If what Tom is saying is correct, that would change the way farms are permitted under zoning in Massachusetts," he said. "We know that a lot of other farms are looking at this case with interest."

Hill said the $100,000 or more cost of the sprinklers does not make sense for Kornblith and Newman, who love horses and want to build Wildstar as "a labor of love." It will be a business, Hill said, but "this is not a moneymaking operation."

He added that the water system would not be effective: "Sprinklers do not save barns, and they do not save horses."

Planning Board Chairman Steven Olanoff said McCusker's memo might change the conditions the group sets when it meets July 14. It is up to the board to decide whether a sprinkler system is necessary or not necessary, he said.

Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.