The fields are still fallow, the silos completely gone to ruin. Operating licenses and permits have long since expired, and nearly a year after the Edgartown Conservation Commission announced it had agreed in principal to lease Katama Farm to entrepreneur David Moore there still is no lease.
And no farming operation at the 190-acre, town-owned farm on the vast, windswept Katama Plains which for years supported an active dairy operation.
The Edgartown conservation commission is set to issue two separate requests for proposals that split the educational and agricultural uses of the historic Katama Farm.
In the latest shift since evicting the Trustees of Reservations from Katama Farm, the Edgartown conservation commission is considering the idea of more than one tenant.
With Tuesday’s move-out date looming, the Edgartown conservation commission has extended the Trustees of Reservations lease at Katama Farm until Oct. 15.
The preservation of rare sandplain grasslands at Katama and in West Tisbury will get a boost thanks to some $46,000 in grant money awarded by Gov. Charlie Baker last week to the Trustees of Reservations.
The larger of two barns at the town-owned property leased by the Farm Institute has a failed roof and water has been leaking through. This week selectmen awarded a contract for replacing the roof that covers the 8,400-square-foot barn.
A long-awaited project to bring improved cell service to the Katama part of Edgartown moves forward this week, following the completion of a lease with telecommunications company AT&T.
The company will pay the town $28,000 per year for the use of an abandoned silo at Katama Farm.
Changes have been approved to an agreement between the town and the Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative Inc. (CVEC) to create solar arrays on town-owned parcels of land. The projects are expected to save the town millions in electricity costs down the road.
