Cumberland moves ahead on highway barn site

CUMBERLAND – The town is moving ahead with developing a new home for its highway department after acquiring the 8-1/2-acre Pascale family property off Old Mendon Road for $1.4 million.

Mayor William Murray said on Friday he has signed the acquisition agreement approved by the Town Council at its Nov. 27 special meeting and the town is now preparing the property for use as a yard waste collection center initially.

“We are getting everything ready to move,” Murray said. The exact schedule for moving into the property hasn’t yet been set and the town is still determining what will be done with the highway department’s current garage site on Kent Street, the mayor noted.

The Pascale property has a multi-bay garage building already in place at the site that makes it almost “a turn key project” for the town, Mur- ray said. The building will require some handicapped access work and replacement of doors, for example, but otherwise will offer a quick turnover to town use, according to Murray.

The town acquired the property and its existing yard waste mulching operation under a purchase and sales agreement that was negotiated with Pascale family members prior to the Nov. 27 meeting.

The purchase drew council debate on how it would be funded, either through town surplus funds or under a master lease agreement that Murray supported.

The council ultimately chose to include a requirement for the use of town surplus funds for the acquisition that could in turn be refunded in part through a sale of the Kent Street property and some other parcels under a 4-2 vote making the change. Council President Peter J. Bradley and members

James K. Metivier, E. Craig Dwyer and Scott R. Schmitt supported the requirement with members, Lisa A. Beaulieu and Robert G. Shaw opposed. Council member Thomas Kane was not present for the vote.

The property was used by the Pascale Landscape Construction Co. for heavy equipment storage and also a state Department of Environmental Management licensed composting operation that is still in place at the site, Murray noted.

As a result, Murray said the town will be able to offer its residents a yard composting operation with the equipment from the existing operation.

The town has already installed a sign on the gate at the property noting its future use by the town, Murray said.

The final results of the town’s acquisition will come in the near future, he added. “We are just getting started on it and moving at a slow pace,” Murray said.