Give Peace (Restaurant) a Chance

The building goes up, it’s all ready to go. “The lights are too bright, too much traffic, too big, too much” were comments made by some neighbors of Peace Field Farm, which stopped their planned restaurant opening.

It started with John Holland, the owner of 194 acres of land in Woodstock just near the Pomfret town line. Holland bought the former Conklin Farm in 2012 as a weekend home for his family and later named it Peace Field Farm.

He spent more than $1 million bringing down the old barn. He was able to get a permit by Woodstock to build the new 2,600 square foot building with a kitchen, “blast freezer” and an 80 seat restaurant. It is now leased and run by farmer and “restauranter” Matt Lombard.

They started construction but under Act 250, they can’t open to the public.

“What the District 3 Commission has done has gone through the back door to shut down Act 143 because they couldn’t go through the front door to block it,” - (a quote from John Holland) from the Valley News “Planned restaurant on Woodstock farm faces procedural hurdles, ire from neighbors” Published on August 14, 2021. According to the Valley News article, he sounded frustrated. Act 143 allows small farms to develop “accessory on farm business” for restaurants the food has to be “principally produced” on that farm.

The great idea of a new restaurant in Woodstock was denied under Act 250, Vermont’s land use law governing large developing projects.

Some local residents were supportive of the new project but when it came to the ones who had a view of Peace Field Farm, they felt differently. Nearby neighbors had many complaints, including someone who said “It will light up the night like Santa's Village.”

The most common though were those saying that the farm was too big and it would bring in a lot of traffic. The amount of seating they had planned was too much and, according to one of the neighbors, if they were to bring down their amount of open seats they could have been able to see the possibility of opening.

On August 9th Holland wrote a letter to the editor of the Vermont Standard following an article that had been published called “Seeking peace at Peacefield Farm''. He clarified some misinformation that was put in the article and he continued to give an explanation of why the project is at the stage it is now. He wanted to assure that everything that has been completed on the property was fully approved by the Town and the right agencies.

The ideas started with having Mangalitsa Restaurant cater events inside the barn but Matt Lombard had a bigger image in mind. In the published article, Holland responded with “Act 143 doesn’t specifically say that a restaurant can be allowed as an AFIB. [It should be allowed!]” He explained that the trouble began with changing the first vision of the building, and the process of trying to get permits began. In his statement, Holland seems to do as much as possible to make it happen.

Last summer my family opened a farm store in Barnard. It was a small building where we served baked goods and jewelry made by my mom, as well as meat, ice cream, and maple syrup. My dad had been building up this farm with the dream of being able to open up to the public and be able to share our products.

Even though a little farm store isn’t like a restaurant at all, it made me imagine what would have happened if we weren’t able to open the store last summer. This restaurant has a great opportunity to benefit the town because it’s something we’ve never had before. Many people in neighboring towns, me included, would love to see this vision come to life. I believe it will bring something new and exciting to our community.

For more information on their story and ways to help visit the Peace Field farm website.