NORTHAMPTON - The Conservation Commission Thursday delayed a decision on whether to turn day-to-day management of a small piece of land in the Meadows Conservation Area over to a neighborhood coalition.

The proposed agreement would give the Meadow City Conservation Coalition, a newly-formed group of neighbors who live in the surrounding neighborhood, oversight of the 3-acre Montview parcel at the corner of Montview Avenue and Ventures Field Road.

Though the city would retain control of the land, the coalition would manage daily activities there if the commission approves a memorandum of understanding currently before it.

Those activities include selecting a farmer to work the land, something many neighbors want to have a say in now that the license granted to the Montview Neighborhood Farm has expired.

Proponents of the Montview Farm, which has operated on part of the site for six years, argued that the proposed agreement would give the coalition too much power and is not representative of the entire city.

"There is a difference between neighbors input and oversight," said Libby Reinish. "This MOU gives too much power, even though the Conservation Commission will manage the land."

Reinish called on the city to continue to manage the land, or if they must turn it over to an coalition, that it allow other groups a chance to take on such a role.

Alex Jarrett said he isn't opposed to the coalition managing the site, but he is concerned that its members are limited to people who live next to the land.

"It should represent the entire city," said Jarrett, who helped form Montview Farm but is no longer involved in it.

Wayne Feiden, director of the Office of Planning and Development, reminded the 30 people in the audience that while the city would try to defer to the neighbors as much as possible, it still reserves the right to rule on broader issues.

Feiden said the city has had a policy for years in which it seeks to partner with neighborhood groups to manage conservation land. He cited several examples, including the Broad Brook Coalition's oversight of the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area. This agreement falls in line with that policy, he said.

Several members of the neighborhood coalition said they would welcome input from Montview Farm supporters.

Max Everett said the group formed last summer when several neighbors became concerned about what would happen to the land when two of the three Montview Farm owners said they were unsure if they would continue operating it.

"We feel a great stake at what happens there because we need to live with it," said Everett, noting that the farm had deteriorated in the last year compared to its early days.

He said the 39-member coalition has created a fair and open process where any farmer who wants to work that land can submit an RFP to do so, including the Montview Farm.

Opponents expressed concerns about letting a private group of neighbors create an RFP and select a farmer for the land. Adele Franks, of Florence, said that it is not visible to her what farming expertise the decision-makers have. She said the possibility that a new farm would be selected "arouses anxiety."

In shelving a decision for two weeks, the commission asked the two sides to iron out their differences and come back at its Jan. 26 meeting with recommendations that it could evaluate. At-Large City Councilor William Dwight offered to serve as moderator for a meeting, though a date was not set.

Commission members also said they would also like to see the RFP that would be used to select a new farmer.