At their first meeting, the Westfield Review Committee last week voted unanimously to recommend the development of senior affordable housing on the town-owned Westfield parcel -- provided that the remaining acreage of the parcel be set aside for recreation and open space.

"This project divided the town," said committee member Chris Smith, who has been extensively involved with the town's Little League program. "A project with sports fields and open space could bring it together."

The review committee was formed at this spring's Town Meeting after the proposal to allow the Board of Selectmen to lease town land off Charlotte Furnace Road to a developer for the construction of affordable senior rental housing was defeated by five votes. It was the third time the controversial proposal had been sent back for more study, but the first time a committee had been appointed specifically to do the studying.

It was not clear this week why the committee chose to make a recommendation before undertaking significant study work.

In discussion, the committee addressed the main issues that members felt had led to the project's previous defeats. These included:

-- Contradictions among the deed from the previous owner to the town in 1977, the Town Meeting vote to accept the land, and "orders of taking" signed by the selectmen which added conservation restrictions to the parcel.

-- Uncertainty about whether the "municipal use" for which the land was taken by the town included affordable housing.

-- Controversy over whether the land should be used for recreation and open space

-- Whether the project was located too far from services, effectively isolating its residents.

As the discussion progressed, committee members appeared to agree that many of the legal issues concerning land use were not insurmountable obstacles.

"There was so much vagueness to the project," Smith said. "It has to be airtight" to get people to vote for it.

For instance, Selectmen have instructed town counsel Kopelman and Paige to remove the conservation restriction that was placed on the property by the Selectmen in the 1977 orders of taking, an action that town counsel has deemed illegal because it was not approved at Town Meeting.

In addressing the site's isolation, committee members noted that increased development was slated for that area of town, and that the Westfield developer could be required to install the necessary infrastructure.

Committee members appeared to agree that rental affordable housing for seniors was an acceptable municipal use.

To include recreation in the plans, the committee suggested adding the caveat that the remainder of the land - the site consists of 75 acres, 18 of which was slated for development in the previous proposals - be protected as open space for recreational use and that any interested developer be required to provide some of the revenue for this land's maintenance.

"I think I'm hearing consensus that we can make this a win-win situation for the town," said Board of Selectmen Chair Jane Donahue, who had been unanimously appointed committee chair at the start of the meeting.

The committee additionally agreed to present its recommendation of the Westfield project to Town Meeting as a "citizens' petition" rather than working through Selectmen.

Committee member Donna Bronk explained that decision by saying part of the reason for the proposal's previous failure at Town Meeting was distrust of the previous Board of Selectmen, which had favored Westfield.

And Donahue noted that, based on their votes at Town Meeting, a majority of the current board opposes the Westfield project.

Bronk, a member of the Finance Committee, had opposed the project at Town Meeting. Because she had not yet been sworn in to the review committee, Bronk did not vote at last week's meeting, but said she agreed with the recommendation.

"I was a nay voter, and I'm now very excited about this project," she said.

At the committee's next meeting, project consultant Dick Heaton (who said he was volunteering his time at the July 30 meeting) will present a draft of the citizen's petition that the committee plans to present to Town Meeting voters. The committee will also review the request for proposal and accompanying lease agreement that the previous board of Selectmen had prepared for potential developers.

Asked whether she was surprised that the review committee had reached consensus in favor of the project at its first meeting, Donahue responded that she was "pleasantly surprised we were able to come to an agreement so quickly. I thought that all the pertinent questions were asked and answered and we came to an agreement on a logical plan."