The One That Got Away

The web site says it all: Maplegate Country Club in Bellingham, MA, is home to an 18-hole championship public golf course. Set on gentle, rolling hills with only 3- to 5-degree slopes, the course is covered with large pine, maple, oak and beech trees, and bordered by old stone walls.

Now, in a development that can have surprised almost no one, the owners of the property, which has been undergoing permitting and approvals for conversion to a solar farm, have announced their intention to sell the 100+acre property for more than $25 million. Taxed at a favorable rate for decades under the state’s 61B program, which encourages landowners to delay or avoid development, the process of departure from the program also triggers a one-time opportunity for the town, in this case Franklin, to match the agreed sale price and acquire the property for open space.

But that seems, unlikely. The Town Council will hear a report on the matter this coming Wednesday and already, according to documents within the meeting packet, the administration is declaring acquisition unfeasible given current fiscal realities and the fact that the town already spent heavily of its Community Preservation Act funding to acquire two open space parcels in the town’s upscale neighborhoods.

The memorandum notes: At this time, it is our professional recommendation that the Town decline to exercise the right of first refusal as, at a minimum, the purchase price is far too expensive for the Town to afford through any mechanism. A preliminary borrowing schedule would yield a near $1.75 million per year cost for 20 years. Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding cannot absorb this cost nor can the Town operating budget absorb this cost, and there is no one-time money available to consider this purchase. The only option would be a ballot vote debt exclusion within the 120-day period.

More details will no doubt be shared on Wednesday.