After a 16-year drought, Hawkins Farm could once again become the site of renewed farming as town officials consider what to do with the land purchased by the Conservation Commission in August.

The 15-acre piece of farmland that runs along the Spicket River known as Hawkins Farm may be the future site of a walking path, affordable housing, public gardens and agricultural production.

Salem Planning Director Ross Moldoff said the acquisition, purchased for $950,000, was a once-in-a-decade opportunity for the town to add to its conservation land holdings.

“The opportunities don’t come up that much, and the land is so expensive typically that we don’t have enough money to buy big parcels of land,” Moldoff said. “The money (for the purchase) had been accruing in the Conservation Commission fund for a number of years, and they had a big enough balance, and they had a willing seller.”

With $750,000 of the original asking price paid for at the time of the purchase, the commission has three years to raise the remaining $200,000. The property includes a flood plain and wetlands, and abuts previously acquired conservation land owned by the town.

Muldoff and Bill Carter, chairmen of the Conservation Committee, are working with the Salem Housing Authority to try to turn the currently unoccupied farmhouse on the land into a home for a low-income family or elderly couple. They’ve also got the Recreation Department involved as well, with a plan to construct a nature trail along the edge of the property.

“We are planning on putting a nature trail on the edge of the property along the Spicket River. We were out there walking that property and it seems quite nice to have a walking trail there,” Carter said.

The commission has also been in talks with two local farmers, John and Mike Peters, to lease a portion of the existing fields for future agricultural production, like growing corn. In return, the Peters will till a section of the land set aside for community gardening.

“You take a farm field that had not been farmed in 10 or 15 years and now put it back into farming – (that’s great) because that doesn’t happen too often,” Moldoff said.

On Monday, Nov. 15, selectmen gave Carter and Moldoff permission to move forward with their plans. They hope to have a family in the home before the end of the year and expect farming to begin in April. By next spring, the hope is to have the nature trail open to the public as well.

The parcel of land joins about a 1,000 acres owned by the town across Salem, including the 200-acre town forest. In the past, Moldoff said the Conservation Commission has not has as much luck in procuring land they expressed interested in. Last year, negotiations for a bigger piece of local land fell through after the seller upped their asking price from $2 million to $4 million. With the Hawkins farm purchase, Moldoff said the town won in more ways than one.

“What was going to happen there, (the landowners) were going to sell it to some developer and there were going to be some house lots there,” he said. “But with the town purchasing the land and keeping it for conservation – it preserves a scenic resource in the community and a productive resource if it goes back into farming and housing for a needy family or elderly couple, and you’ve prevented the development impacts that would come from four or six houses being built on the property.”