HANSON – A proposal from the Mass. Department of Fish & Wildlife to take control of the remaining LiteControl property at 100 Hawks Ave., outlined to the Select Board on Tuesday, Aug. 6 drew questions of cost and long-term land control.
Joan Pierce of the Mass. Dept of Fish and Wildlife outlined for the Select Board, the department’s interest in acquiring the property.
“We are concerned about what is about to happen to the town property, so I felt now is a good time to at least start the conversation and say, Fish & Game would really like to own the town property, so the whole strip along the northern part of Burrage – it’s all going to be open space,” Pierce said.
The issue would have to go before Town Meeting for any final decision.
“I’m a big fan of Burrage, I’m there every day and I think it’s a jewel,” said Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett. “I feel so lucky that we’ve got it in our little town – at least a good part of it.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she was initially intrigued by the concept as Pierce explained it.
But, the board had no objection to the idea of protecting the property as a wildlife management area where hunting and fishing would be allowed, but they had real concerns about the prospect of not realizing some remuneration for the property, especially in light of the nearly $500,000 already spent on a feasibility study, only to have the site rejected as a Highway Department location.
“Not to be impolite, but the money really needs to be talked about,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Speaking for herself, Pierce said she was ready to recommend to the Fish & Game committee responsible for making the decision about acquiring the land, that they pay to remove the buildings on the land. A “very preliminary estimate” of more than $400,000 to take down the buildings, she said.
“We don’t want the buildings other than buildings we are actively using,” she said. “We would like to have the buildings removed and we would like to take on that responsibility if we are able to acquire the property from the town.”
That said, Pierce admitted that money is always a delicate issue, as is the question of the extent of remaining contamination at the site.
“I don’t want to talk too much about money, because that’s going to be a factor,” she said. “The problem, though, is that we are going to be paying to take down the buildings, which is a big cost.”
It’s almost equal to the assessed value of the property, Pierce said, adding that is why she is not suggesting that the land acquisition would be a windfall for the town.
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she is in no way looking at the proposal as a “windfall,” and could read between the lines to find the tear-down costs and site testing were being suggested as factors that might affect renumeration for the town.
“I can assure you that we’re not in a financial situation to make that decision,” she said. “We’re just not, I can reassure you. We’re looking at an override, we’ve got all kinds of competing demands.”
She also reminded Pierce that the May Town Meeting voted against being an MBTA Community, so much of the MBTA grant money for purchase of open space will not be available. She said it is also, as yet unseen, whether the state might claw back some of the Community Space funding for that reason.
Town Administrator Lisa Green noted, that the LiteControl property abuts to the Burrage Wildlife Management Area, a parcel of about 9.6 acres, was gifted to the town about 15 years ago with deed restrictions on what could be done with the property.
Housing, schools, hospitals, childcare facilities or other similar uses are prohibited because of groundwater or soil contamination.
“It’s been a work in progress trying to get grants or identify [funding sources] like that,” she said.
Town Meeting had voted several years ago to give the Select Board the power to lease the two large portions of the property, including the two large buildings on the parcel. She said Pierce had approached Green about the property a couple of years ago. They toured Burrage and talked about the LiteControl property. It had been “a work in progress” for Hanson as the town sought grants to fund
“She did mention that, basically, the Department of Fish and Game would be interested in acquiring a portion of that property,” Green said.
While that proposal had fallen by the wayside, Pierce did approach Green with another idea at the direction of the state – potentially acquire the entire LiteControl property from the town.
“She has prepared a letter, we have maps, and she is prepared,” Green said, adding that Pierce again reached out to Green to say the Fish & Game Dept. would be interested in acquiring a portion of the property, but State House business caused it to fall by the wayside.
That was also a concern of select Board member Ann Rein, who flat-out asked if the town has more grant options to address the property.
Green said the town has submitted the paperwork for the One-Stop Brownfields assessment cleanup, but Hanson officials are still waiting to hear what that decision might be.
FitzGerald-Kemmett noted the One-Stop grant is an MBTA Communities-related grant program. Green added that the remediation already done with $100,000 in One-Stop grant funds, Hanson would have to reimburse the state for that $100,000 from any amount over $100,000 realized from the sale of the property.
Pierce, who works out of Fish & Game’s Southeastern Massachusetts office in Buzzard’s Bay, is in the land acquisition office where she’s served for about 25 years. The office had acquired Burrage from Morton Cranberries more than 20 years ago.
“We are working with the town – I believe the Select Board is aware of this – to acquire other properties that are still owned by [the company now known as Hubbell],” Pierce said. “Hubbell had indirectly acquired LiteControl.”
The larger portion of the remaining lite control property is about 87 acres and Fish & Game is now proposing that property be split along a diagonal line and we’re hoping that the town is able to acquire – I call it the western 45 acres,” she said. Fish & Game would then acquire the 41 acres that lies right behind the town-owned portion of the former LiteControl property.
Pierce said that Fish & Game is also discussing acquiring a little 1.6 acre square of property, as well.
“Hubbell wants to get rid of the property that it owns in Massachusetts,” Pierce said. “They don’t want to own it anymore. It doesn’t do them any good.”
The company has gone through an extensive cleanup program with the state DEP – they want out,” she said.
At least for now, Hubbell is, however retaining a 7.6-acre parcel where the company is still monitoring ground water as required by DEP– but she has asked them to talk to Hanson officials again, too.
“The Hubbell property is really, really important for how we maintain the property,” Pierce said. “We want to have no conflicting uses abutting the property. This is a very valuable wildlife management area.”
Fish & Game is now doing the title search on the 87-acre property, which will be certified to both the department and the town. A title certification is also being done on the 1.38-acre parcel and an appraisal is being done on the two parts Fish & Game is acquiring.
FitzGerald-Kemmett mentioned the notion that the Highway Department might be relocated there when the property had been gifted to the town, but there were questions about whether there was still contamination on the site and whether the property was appropriate for the Highway Department so close to a wetlands, among other reasons.
“We were warned at the time that we were gifted those buildings that, if they were not inhabited quickly, their shelf life would erode rapidly,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. She said the town has seen that kind of deterioration already taking place.
“We know the entire property hadn’t gotten a clean bill of health,” she said. “Then we ran into some questions about [whether that is] really a suitable location for a highway building.”
She noted the objections Fish & Game Department’s objections because of the potential that contamination still existed on the site.
Select Board member Joe Weeks asked why the town was even discussing the issue right now.
Pierce said her main two concerns are protecting all the property on the north end of Burrage and Fish & Game is nervous about something happening to the town land in the future.
We would like to have that nailed down, taken care of, so we don’t have to worry about it anymore,” she said.
“We’re not getting anything,” Weeks said. “Are we just giving you the land and lose control – you just get to decide what happens?”
Pierce said the property would be managed as more open space.
“You’re doing us a favor,, but then you’re offsetting that cost by telling us we’re not getting any money,” Weeks said, “So you’re not doing anything for us.”
FitzGerald-Kemmett said she would wait until all the facts are in, but she feels uncomfortable with the direction the acquisition request is taking.
“I know that people are going to be outraged if we get no money for this property,” she said.
Weeks said he’s all in favor of protecting the land.
“I need more information,” he said.