Judge Blocks Efforts to Acquire 70-Acre Parcel

SUDBURY, MA-A Massachusetts Land Court Judge has ruled that the town does not have the rights of first refusal to acquire a 70-acre parcel here on Knobscott Road and Old Framingham Road close to Route 20. An official with the town tells GlobeSt.com that the town intends to appeal the ruling.

The parcel was owned by Strawberry Hill LLC, the heirs of the original owner of the land. They sold the entire parcel to Charles Scott, a trustee of Evergreen Realty Trust, back in 1999. According to the court decision, he purchased the land for $1.3 million with the intention of putting a horse riding school and business there. Because the land has agricultural tax status the town has the rights of first refusal on the land if it is to be developed.

A little later that year, Scott agreed to sell 23.9 acres of the parcel to Brendon Homes Inc. for $3 million. The developer planned to build a senior residential community on the site or 13 residential homes if it couldn’t get the necessary permits. The town then invoked its rights of first refusal for the entire parcel at the original sale price of $1.3 million, rather than for the 24-acre parcel. In the court decision, the town contends that Scott had clearly intended a “non-agricultural purpose” for the entire parcel of land because the dates of the two transactions are so close. The town also took an “all or nothing” approach contending that if part of the land sold is for non-exempt use then the town has a right of first refusal on the entire premises.