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Guilford Looks at Renewing Bonding Program for Land Acquisition

The town is considering renewing a special land acquisition bond program, which is intended to allow the town to purchase properties for various purposes, after the monies finally ran out recently following the acquisition of a new site for the Public Works Department.

Initially approved in 2000 with about $5 million, the fund has been drawn down just over 90 percent to date, according to Land Acquisition Commission (LAC) Chair Gary MacElhiney, who said he is asking for a re-up of $15 million.

MacElhiney said the town had a “targeted” list of properties, many of which were not necessarily for sale, but that the town might want to pick up for various purposes, including environmental, open space, or municipal use.

That list has not been made public to prevent owners from gaining leverage in any potential negotiation, according to MacElhiney.

Though often purchases end up funded by various state and federal grants, having the bonded money set aside gives the town the ability to feel more confident and represent the town’s position more strongly in these same negotiations.

“By having availability it allows the land acquisition to go negotiate and say, ‘We can fund this, we know we can fund this,’” MacElhiney said.

First Selectman Matt Hoey said the Board of Selectmen (BOS) would want to view the list before making any specific decision on the bond, or an amount.

Though the numbers have not been finalized, MacElhiney said the vast majority of the money would be set aside for open space preservation, with only about $3 million for other purposes.

That said, the most recent three properties recommended through the program for purchase were not open space, according to MacElhiney.

LAC members stated that the purchasing of open space is actually a cost-effective approach, and that allowing uninhibited development could easily end up being a tax burden in terms of increased service costs.

Several BOS and commission members cited the purchase of the East River Preserve in 2009, which was funded at least partially with grant money but was part of the town’s land acquisition program.

There are checks and balances in place with the program as well, according to MacElhiney, with town meeting approval and the need for BOS and Board of Finance approval for purchases. The BOS can also set parameters as far as how much money the Commission can pay for any one property.

It also does not have to be a black and white question, whether to preserve land or allow it to be developed. LAC member Kim Brockett said that the town could work with a state program to buy development rights of agricultural land, for instance, but continue to keep the property on the tax rolls.

The town of Lebanon has been successful with that, and Guilford has one property in the north with that kind of arrangement, she said.

Only a handful of other towns have a similar program, according to MacElhiney, but they appeared to be successful in those cases. Since it has been 20 years since the original approval, he said he hoped to get some more public input on what residents want to see about the program.

Though BOS members made sure to say they weren’t sold on the $15 million amount, the idea did get a good reception.

“The final number notwithstanding, my answer is yes, this is worth pursuing again. It was a very successful program,” said Hoey. “There’s a couple of ways that this could be beneficial.”