A nearly 25-acre property on Hunting Lane is currently the subject of a purchase-and-sale agreement. Since about 23 acres of the parcel (actually 2 parcels of 8 acres and 16.93 acres with a house on the 16.93-acre property) is classified as Chapter 61B for recreation and open space, the Town has a right of first refusal to purchase the property under the same terms specified in the purchase-and-sale agreement. The Town will also be due back taxes that were avoided by the Chapter 61B classification.
The agreed-upon purchase price is $2,000,000. The 2016 assessment is $2,066,645, of which $1,407,400 is the assessed value of the house. It should be noted that the 61B classification does not apply to the house or the 2 acres on which it sits (minimum lot size for that zoning district). Because of the configuration of the lot and the location of the house, any attempt to separate the house from the bulk of the acreage would result in considerably more than 2 acres for the house lot. The 16.93-acre lot has 200 hundred feet of frontage which would need to remain with the house lot to comply with zoning and the house is more than 1000 feet from that frontage.
It should also be noted that the purchaser of this property has also recently purchased 41 North Main Street (5.88 acres), 6 Powderhouse Lane (1.31 acres) and Parcel 2 of Map 11 (4.88 acres) on Hunting Lane abutting the 8-acre parcel. Thus there would be 3 abutting parcels with a total of 29.73 acres on the Hunting Lane (west) side of the railroad tracks and 7.19 acres on the east side of the tracks under common ownership.
The Board of Selectmen have the authority to decide whether or not to exercise the right of refusal. They have asked for input from the Planning Board Board, Conservation Commission and others. They have 120 days to decide and if it is a positive decision, then a Special Town Meeting would need to be called to authorize the purchase and the financing for it.
