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03/18/2019 12:00 AMAt a well-attended public meeting last week, Westbrook residents voted overwhelmingly to accept the payment of $65,161.53 from the owner of a contaminated property in back taxes, interest, and lien fees. A total of $134,918 was owed on the property at 88 Pond Meadow Rd, but the current owner, Paul Cusson, in January offered the town the amount owed since he took possession of it in 2004.
Before the vote, First Selectman Noel Bishop reminded voters that a “Yes” vote would have “no impact on what’s going to be done with that property” and that Cusson would require Zoning Commission approval for any future development.
In a letter read into the record, Jim Crawford, chair of the Westbrook Economic Development Commission, stated his support for accepting the offer, calling it a “realistic, potential resolution.”
“Now, we have a plan, admittedly a less than perfect one, outlining a viable path to putting this property back on the active tax rolls,” he wrote.
He called Cusson’s offer “an important breakthrough” and “the first real, substantive movement on this lingering issue in years.”
According to Crawford’s letter, the Economic Development Commission voted unanimously to endorse acceptance of the payment.
Town Attorney Michael Wells pointed out that the town options for dealing with the property have always been limited. The possibility of foreclosure, which included the option of a sale, was hindered by the immense clean-up costs facing potential buyers.
Alternatively, the town could choose a tax sale by auction with the opening bid the amount owed.
The tax collector in each of these cases, Wells explained, cannot accept less than the amount owed to the town. If there is no bidder or no bid above the required amount, the town itself can bid the amount owed to it to take possession of the property, but if it chooses not to, the property returns to the current owner.
But again, potential purchasers were not willing to take on clean-up costs. Years ago, those costs were estimated at between $1.5 million and $3 million but lowered to a range of $560,000 and $850,000, according to an extensive study conducted by engineering firm Woodard and Curran in 2014.
A third option for the town was created when, by town meeting last November, residents adopted a new statute allowing the negotiated sale of tax liens.
“The statute... assumes the amount paid will be less than the amount owed,” said Wells. “It’s the only circumstance in which the tax collector has the ability to agree to that... and it’s the [only] mechanism by which the town can accept less than the amount owed in taxes and wipe them off the books.”
The statute requires approval by the tax collector, the BOS, the Board of Finance, and residents, via town meeting, for the sale to go through.
In response to a question from a resident, Wells said the town itself has spent less than $10,000 in total on the property. However, in addition to the $5,900 spent by the town to have engineering firm Woodard and Curran review a study that had previously been paid for by Cusson, the town appropriated an additional $27,000 at a town meeting in July 2014 for that firm to conduct a more extensive study of the property.
All additional items on the agenda were approved.
A $200,000 state Connectivity Grant will install sidewalks on Essex Road from the west side of the train station to 27 Essex Road and the south side of Boston Post Road from 1241 Boston Post Road to 1283 Boston Post Road.
Voters approved a $369,000 appropriation from the Undesignated Fund to complete the Lynn Road Bridge project to cover the increased costs after the State Historic Preservation Office determined that the design did not incorporate enough of the historic bridge’s original stone.
A boundary line agreement pertaining to town-owned property will be made between the town of Westbrook and the Westbrook Land Conservation Trust.
A used excavator will be purchased with $44,000 appropriated from the Undesignated Fund for use by the town’s Public Works department.
The town will accept a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in “an amount up to $160,100.” It will also appropriate $36,600 from the Undesignated Fund to complete preliminary engineering for the Kirtland Landing project.