Cheshire County Farm and Infrastructure Feasibility Study Final Report – February 21, 2012 Submitted jointly by Cheshire County Conservation District, Land For Good, and the Monadnock Conservancy Cheshire County Farm property, Westmoreland NH Cheshire County Farm & Infrastructure Project | Final Report – February 21, 2012 1 Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Summary of Next Steps ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Current Context ............................................................................................................................................................ 6 Client and Goals ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 Project Leaders ............................................................................................................................................................. 8 Project Partners ............................................................................................................................................................ 9 Feasibility Study Work Plan ........................................................................................................................................ 11 Community Awareness and Involvement ................................................................................................................... 12 Farm and Jail Re-use Subcommittee Criteria .......................................................................................................... 14 Community Forums ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Request for Interest in the Former Jail ................................................................................................................... 16 Conservation ............................................................................................................................................................... 17 Agricultural Potential .................................................................................................................................................. 23 Farm and Infrastructure Program Planning ................................................................................................................ 26 Farm Incubator ....................................................................................................................................................... 26 Summary ............................................................................................................................................................................. 26 Potential Interest ................................................................................................................................................................. 27 Land Base Needs.................................................................................................................................................................. 27 Exploration into land opportunities .................................................................................................................................... 28 Infrastructure and Equipment Needs .................................................................................................................................. 31 Market Needs ...................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Staffing and Administrative Needs ...................................................................................................................................... 31 Operational and Capitalization Costs .................................................................................................................................. 31 Lease Terms ......................................................................................................................................................................... 32 Technical Support ................................................................................................................................................................ 32 Incubator Next Steps ........................................................................................................................................................... 32 Cheshire County Farm & Infrastructure Project | Final Report – February 21, 2012 2 Farm to Institution .................................................................................................................................................. 33 Business Incubation ................................................................................................................................................ 34 County Office Space ................................................................................................................................................ 35 Farm Design ............................................................................................................................................................ 35 Farm Buildings Inventory ............................................................................................................................................ 38 Former Jail Building Adaptive Re-Use ......................................................................................................................... 40 Preliminary Cost Estimate ....................................................................................................................................... 45 Farm Adaptive Re-use – Proposed River Walk ........................................................................................................... 47 Housing ....................................................................................................................................................................... 48 Legal Considerations ................................................................................................................................................... 49 Financial Planning ....................................................................................................................................................... 50 Energy ......................................................................................................................................................................... 53 Biomass for Heat ..................................................................................................................................................... 53 Solar PV ................................................................................................................................................................... 56 Solar Thermal .......................................................................................................................................................... 56 Appendix A. – Forum Results ...................................................................................................................................... 57 Appendix B. – Request for Interest ............................................................................................................................. 75 Appendix C. – Strafford County Farm Conservation Easement .................................................................................. 77 Appendix D. – Conservation Easement Appraisal ...................................................................................................... 99 Appendix E. – Natural Resource Inventory Data ...................................................................................................... 118 Appendix F. – Intervale Consultation........................................................................................................................ 140 Appendix G. – Jail Adaptive Re-Use Cost Estimate Details ....................................................................................... 142 Cheshire County Farm & Infrastructure Project | Final Report – February 21, 2012 3 Introduction For more than 150 years, the Cheshire County Farm in Westmoreland, New Hampshire has provided shelter, food, work, rest, education, recreation, and rehabilitation to county residents. Those who benefited most included the elderly, the destitute, and the incarcerated, many of whom provided labor in return for their bed and board. The farm, in turn, provided a wide array of products to local markets and surrounding communities. For many years the county’s Maplewood Nursing Home sourced produce, dairy, and meats from the farm in its shadow, and though vegetable production ceased, the farm’s dairy herd remained one of the most productive in the region thanks to high-quality forage grown on site. The farm’s bounteous soils are the legacy of thousands of years of flooding and soil deposition by the adjacent Connecticut River, which borders the farm for more than a mile. Complementing the fertile soil, and likewise the river’s legacy, are a