According to Barbara Jessel, chairwoman of the Community Preservation Committee and a member of the board of selectman, her committee contacted the Trust for Public Land, a national organization, when it heard the property was available. "We've worked with them before," she tells GlobeSt.com. "We contacted them to see of they could put a deal together."
The Trust negotiated a selling price of $4.75 million for the land. The Committee would like three million of that amount to come from the Community Preservation Act, which was passed here last year. The Act placed a three percent surcharge on property taxes in the town to be used for land preservation as well as affordable housing and historical preservation.
This parcel would be the first use of those funds. "Buying a piece of property like this is exactly what the Act was passed for," Jessel points out.
The town is also looking to get one million dollars from a state environmental bond and the rest would come from private and public sources. As Jessel notes, the money needs to be raised quickly. A developer has already presented a proposal to the town to develop 40 houses on the site. If the town is able to purchase the land it will use it as open space and passive recreation.
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