EASTHAMPTON — City residents didn’t hold back Wednesday night when the City Council endorsed Renewal Initiatives to claim ownership of the city’s historic Town Lodging House property on Oliver Street, much to the dismay of its competitor who believes the process was not fair.
The council’s recommendation was sent to Mayor Salem Derby, who told the Gazette in an interview Thursday that he will be moving forward with the Renewal Initiatives proposal.
“My job is to make the best decision for Easthampton,” Derby said. “One proposal stood out to me as more prepared and ready to handle the level of difficulty of that property.”
The other bidder, Elodie Chicoine of Chicoine Family Farm — who formed the nonprofit Living Meadow Farm several months ago to make a proposal — doesn’t feel the process was fair.
“I believe the people of this city deserve confidence that the decision was reached through a process they could actually participate in and understand,” Chicoine said at the Wednesday meeting.
The meeting marked the public’s last opportunity to comment on the sale of the lodging house located at 75 Oliver St., which the city renewed efforts to sell earlier this year. The property used to house people without homes, transient and low-income individuals for more than 130 years before it was vacated and boarded up in April 2022.
Councilors showed unanimous support for Renewal Initiatives’ proposal, which plans to implement what it’s calling a “Holistic Agriculture Academy” at the property, a two-year training program that teaches veterans how to farm.
Several residents spoke in support of Renewal Initiatives, including resident Karol Brodeur. “I’m a big proponent of Renewal Initiatives,” she said, saying members of the nonprofit have answered many of her questions and the proposal impresses her.
The proposal plans to transform the building into 17 affordable housing units, each with its own kitchenette and bathroom with several spots reserved for Easthampton community members, not specifically veterans, while also seeking veterans from across the country.
Renewal Initiatives was formed last year by four cofounders, including Executive Director Heather Takle, her husband, Jeff Takle, along with Lawrence Rhone and Richard Creppel.
The plan estimates the cost to transform the whole property at approximately $8.4 million, and the group says it has already secured $3.5 million. It hopes to collect funding from other sources, including $1.7 million from state and federal historic tax credits and $1.2 million from the city’s Community Preservation Act (CPA) fund over several years, with several other anticipated funding sources.
Mayor’s decision
Derby told the Gazette that he felt the City Council made the right decision choosing Renewal Initiatives. Derby said he hopes there could be collaboration between Renewal Initiatives and the Chicoines moving forward.
The process unveiled the deep passion that abutters of the property feel towards the lodging house, some of whom have attended many meetings to support Elodie Chicoine and her father, Bill Chicoine.
The Chicoine’s have farmed the hayfields on the property for decades to help sustain their cow farm, and their supporters are distraught to see the property turned over to a nonprofit with backing from national organizations.
“You guys know that the Chicoine family has been taking care of this land. You guys know there could have been compromises made with both sides,” said Avrey Lavalley, an abutter to the lodging house.
The Renewal Initiatives plan does not have a specific use for the farmland determined yet, but rather has a “farm plan” that will involve evaluating the land and community desire for what happens at the property. It also extends two options to the Chicoines that would allow them to continue farming the fields through a three-year lease during construction, which the Chicoines have not taken at this time.
Members of the City Council Property Committee were tasked to evaluate each proposal and showed overwhelming support for Renewal Initiatives. Renewal Initiatives and Living Meadow Farm each presented their proposals at the committee’s Aug. 26 meeting.
Councilor Thomas Peake said that he has no doubt that the Chicoines can steward the farmland, but did not feel Elodie Chicoine produced a clear proposal.
“This is a complex property,” he said. “I needed a coherent plan to handle the very complex housing side (of the property). I did not get that.”
Peake and Councilor James “JP” Kwiecinski said that portions of the Living Meadow Farm proposal were generated by AI.
“What I saw was a proposal that contained full copy and pasted conversations with ChatGPT in lieu of a capital stack. So that doesn’t imbue confidence in me,” Peake said.
Peake also questioned the partnerships Chicoine had obtained for her proposal. Peake said that an organization reached out to him to say they had no relation to Chicoine.
“Those organizations reached out to me by email to say that no such partnership existed. I don’t know what you want me to do with that,” he said.
Many of the supporters of the Chicoines claim that city officials have been biased and nontransparent in the process, showing favoritism to Renewal Initiatives. City Councilors denied these claims, and Kwiecinski, a 23-year member of the council, said the city made the process as transparent as possible.
“I cannot reiterate any stronger — this was the most transparent process we have ever seen in Easthampton,” Kwiecinski said.
Claims of bias
Elodie Chicoine doesn’t agree and is taking action.
At the meeting, she said she filed an Open Meeting Law complaint against the City Council Property Committee from its Aug. 26 meeting. There were technical difficulties with remote viewing that persisted for the first, roughly 15 minutes of Chicoine’s proposal, but were fixed by the council members when they became aware of the difficulties.
Chicoine also submitted complaints regarding procurement transparency and one related to public records. City Council President Koni Denham said she will be looking into the complaint.
“I appreciate the time and the work the city officials have put into this process. My concern (is) about the process being sufficiently open, transparent and reviewable by the public,” Chicoine said.
According to the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, if technical difficulties prevent consistent clear remote access, the meeting should be canceled or adjourned, and rescheduled.
The other criticism made by supporters of the Chicoines is that the city was working with Renewal Initiatives before the city started the proposal process.
At the Property Committee’s Dec. 10, 2025 meeting, Procurement Officer Michael Owens said the city had initial conversations at that point, and that an environmental sampling was completed at the lodging house and provided to Renewal Initiatives.
Minutes of that meeting are not included on the city website, but the recording is on the Easthampton Media Government Programming YouTube channel.
At the meeting Wednesday night, Owens denied any sort of favoritism, citing his three decades of experience as a procurement officer.
“I take my job seriously. I have a ethical commitment to the state and to the citizens here in Easthampton to perform my job with integrity, and that’s what I have done,” Owens said.
Derby said Renewal Initiatives reached out to the city which is why there were initial conversations. The city then launched its proposal process, which Derby assured was conducted appropriately.
In an interview with the Gazette, Jeff Takle, who manages financing for Renewal Initiatives, assured that members have every intention of moving forward with its plan.
“We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work,” Takle said. “Integrity matters, character matters and in going through this process we have simply refused to engage,” in any false claims.
