GRANTHAM — The owner of a 386 acre wooded parcel off Upper Dunbar Hill Road has agreed to sell the property for the town’s asking price and now residents will be asked at town meeting for an appropriation of $300,000 toward the $415,000 purchase.
If voters approve the article and additional money is raised through grants and private funding, the property would have a permanent conservation easement for recreational use.
“We don’t know what changed their mind (about the price),” said Sheridan Brown, an attorney who represented the town on the matter. “We are just happy it happened.”
The town had offered $415,000, which was an independently appraised fair market value, last year but the owner, Dillon Investment, wanted $475,000.
Brown said in November, Dillon’s broker, LandVest, reached out to The Conservation Fund, which is working with the town to see if the town was still interested.
TCF signed an agreement at the appraised value and it is contingent upon passage of the $300,000 warrant article, with a closing in July 2019, Brown said. The appropriation would come from the town’s unrestricted fund balance at the end of the current fiscal year, not new taxes.
Brown is confident they can raise the balance from private sources and a New Hampshire LCHIP (Land and Community Heritage Investment Program) grant.
“We expect to have a competitive application because of the habitat and recreational value of the property,” Brown said.
The Conservation Fund would close on the sale and transfer the property to the town once all the money is raised, Brown said.
Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust would manage the easement.
The land, which abuts the Croydon Game Park, would be used for snowmobiling, skiing, birdwatching, hiking, mountain biking, hunting and more.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
