A national land conservation organization is urging the Windham Town Council to put out to voters a plan to use tax funds to protect open space and farmland from development.

Jim Gooch, program coordinator for The Trust for Public Lands, a nonprofit organization that provides support and manpower to communities preserving parks, gardens and rural lands, said his group, which is working with the Windham Land Trust to protect the 550-acre Clark Farm Forest, is suggesting the town take out a $3 million bond for the purchase of land and conservation easements on places like the Clark Farm and Parson Smith Farm. The cost of land and borrowing money is low right now, Gooch told the Town Council March 17, so the time is right to protect the landscape from development that would harm it.

“The land that you say you want will never be less expensive than it is right now, and the cost of bonding will never be less,” said Gooch.

The council was open to Gooch’s ideas, and supportive of measures that would protect Windham’s open space, including the Clark Farm, the largest remaining block of single-ownership land in the county. But several councilors said now may not be the right time to ask residents to pay for the bond, especially when there are other areas that need attention, such as the roads and the library. The council and Gooch will continue to discuss land conservation in Windham at the April 7 council workshop.

Gooch was at the meeting to update the council on the efforts of his organization and the Windham Land Trust to purchase the Clark Farm. The groups have raised $1.2 million toward the total cost of $2.62 million, Gooch said. The owners, Larry and Ann Clark, want to protect the land from development, but also are looking to sell the land and use the proceeds for retirement. They can hold out for only so long, Gooch said.

“They have exhibited extraordinary patience, I think,” he said.

The organizations have to move fast if they want to protect the land from development, Gooch said. The land, which straddles Route 202, could be developed into 155 new house lots, bringing in tax revenue but also the high cost of new services and loss of rolling fields and spectacular views. If the town contributed the remaining funds, it would go a long way toward guaranteeing that the land stay open and accessible forever, Gooch said.

“This is really a question for Windham as a community as to how it wants to proceed with its growth,” he said.

Under the conservation organizations’ plan, 233 acres of the Clark Farm would remain farmland and would be sold with restrictions to one or two farmers. The Windham Land Trust would add 76 acres of the land to its Black Brook Conservation Lands, and the remaining 242 acres, near the Swett Road, would stay open to recreation under an easement held by Gooch’s organization.

“The whole project would open some lands for Windham residents and make sure of the continued use of the land,” Gooch said.

Windham’s comprehensive plan states the desire to maintain open land and a certain rural character in parts of town, Gooch said. The town also has a list of projects, including the protection of Clark Farm and Parson Smith Farm and the need for more recreational areas, that it wants to complete, he said.

It makes sense, then, to handle them all at once, using a $3 million, 20-year bond that would then be used to dole out funds to the various projects, Gooch said. If the entire bond is used, the tax bill per household would rise around $25 for the life of the bond, he said. To help, an anonymous donor has promised $200,000 if the town contributes more than $1 million, Gooch said.

Councilor Blaine Davis said he enjoys walking in Clark Farm Forest. But using $3 million in taxpayer funds to protect land not under the ownership of the town-it would either be owned by a farmer or under an easement held by the conservation groups-seems like a lot to ask, especially when there are bad roads to fix, and a library and public works building to work on, he said. If the town is going to use a bond, it should be for those projects, he said.

“There are a lot of things out there that in the long term we’d be better off doing in one fell swoop,” he said.