Blackstone meeting will determine land purchase
BLACKSTONE – Special Town Meeting voters Tuesday will be asked to decide whether the town should purchase 57 acres of agriculturally zoned land off Lincoln Street.
The town meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the BlackstoneMillville Regional High School auditorium, 75 Lincoln St. The land article is the only article on the warrant.
The land the town is look- ing to by is located at 148 Lincoln St., across the street from the high school. There is a house on the property that sits on two acres, which is surrounded by an additional 57 acres under 61A tax status ( agricultural/ horticultural). The property – known as the McCooey property – is located on the same side of Lincoln Street as the John F. Kennedy Elementary and Augustine F. Maloney Elementary School complex.
The selectmen called for the special town meeting last month after Town Administrator Daniel M. Keyes said that attorneys for the landowner have accepted the town’s appraised value of the property, which includes $335,000 for the single-family house and outbuildings on 2.34 acres, plus $215,000 for an additional 57 acres.
Voters on Tuesday will be asked to approve a total of $550,000 to purchase the entire property, which is far below the seller’s asking price of $699,000. The money to buy the property will come from the town stabilization fund so there would be no impact on the tax rate.
The Finance Committee is recommending that voters pass the article.
Because the 57 acres is under 61A tax status, the town had the right of first refusal to purchase the land before potential developers. Had the town not exercise its right of first refusal, the parcel owners could have sold it for construction of private residences.
If voters approve the purchase and appropriation, the town would have 90 days to finalize a deal and close on the property.
At one time the McCooey property was an operating dairy farm. The circa 1850 Colonial sits on a total of 59 acres, which includes open fields and stone walls. Fox Brook runs through the property and there is a sizable pond.
Should town meeting voters agree to buy the property, it would be the biggest land purchase by the town since 2000. That year, town meeting voters authorized the selectmen to negotiate a $260,000 agreement to acquire 26 acres of the former Zerva property on Federal Street.
The property was conveyed a year later to the regional school district, which used the land to construct the 123,340square-foot Frederick W. Harnett Middle School, which was built in 2002 and sits on a total 33 acres off Federal Street.