Say No To The Meadowood Acquisition

Board of Selectmen Meeting March 2, 2021

I am concerned that the Meadowood project has continually surfaced as an open space acquisition.

The only ones promoting it is Town Manger Maria Capriola and the Land Trust.

The Meadowood project provides over $200,000 a year in taxes.

With fewer children participating in sports, there is no need for more fields.

There is a vacant field on Barn Door Hills that can be used for recreation.

With all the Town demands, the Meadowood property should not be a priority.

The land has been vacant over many years with no interest in the development of the property.

There are concerns that there would be issues with contamination mitigation of the land that would greatly increase the costs in developing the land.

The Town has acres of land that is designated open space and revenues from the vacant property could reduce taxes.

Why should the town take a taxed property off the roles and increase the debt for the taxpayers?

The $2.2 million dollars in cost to the taxpayers will have additional costs year after year.

Why should the Town share the costs with the Land Trust?

If the Land Trust considers this property viable for their acquisition, they should raise the full amount for the sale.

As the Town adds more infrastructure to the Meadowood land, the overhead costs that are not mentioned will add additional costs year after year.

This will require more employees and machinery to maintain the land, another overhead cost that has not been discussed.

There has never been any interest in placing the Meadowood land in the Plan of Development as a priority and should not be approved.

This project should be dead on arrival.