Select Board majority supports warrant article for proposed waterfront purchase

April 20, 2023 By Carol Britton Meyer

After gathering more information about the $1.2 million 30 Summer St. waterfront property recently offered by the owner to the town for potential purchase, the Select Board approved supporting related Town Meeting Warrant Article 27 on a 2-1 vote this week. Town Meeting will be held Monday, April 24, and voters have the final say.

Liz Klein voted “no” because while overall supportive of the proposal, she found herself “struggling with the timing” of any such purchase on top of the two most recently-approved debt exclusions for a new Foster School and new public safety facility and the proposed $7.9 million override (which is also on the warrant under Article 6 — “Budgets”).

The warrant article asks voters to authorize but not require the Select Board to purchase the property.

Potential uses outlined by Town Administrator Tom Mayo Wednesday night include a new harbormaster’s office, a harbormaster boat maintenance facility, public restrooms/showers for people coming off their boats and heading for downtown shops and restaurants, parking, Rec Department activities, and private leasing or rental of the property to recoup part of the purchase price.

Testing has revealed the likely presence of some contamination on the property from the time a gas station was located there, but the good news is that the Gallery 360 real estate building that sits on the property is in good shape.

“The owner has informed us that there are other potential bids on the property, so we’re likely to be in a competitive situation,” Mayo said.

Ownership of the property would put the town in a good position in part relating to “having some control and the potential ability to affect the future height of the seawall, which would [be a positive] to the town’s resiliency efforts,” Special Real Estate Counsel Susan Murphy said.

If Town Meeting approves the purchase, the annual cost would be about $81,000 on a 30-year borrowing, assuming a 3.5 percent interest rate, according to Mayo. “There would be no direct impact to taxpayers. This would be carried in the town’s debt service.”

Calling this potential purchase “a once in a generation opportunity,” Harbor Development Committee Chair Marco Boer reported that the HDC and Bathing Beach Trustees voted unanimously to back this potential acquisition following a long discussion in part because such a purchase “would tie in well as a missing link to the Harbor Master Plan.”

Select Board Chair William Ramsey said while this is not the best timing for such a purchase, he “wholeheartedly” believes that this is a “one in a lifetime opportunity — too important to not act on it.”

While agreeing that the timing is “not great,” Select Board member Joseph Fisher also thinks the town should purchase the property. “If we could defer buying it, I would want to, but we can’t,” he said.