Preserving the center

Taxpayer funds help Scarborough Land Trust to protect large tract near Payne Road

SCARBOROUGH — A 161.5-acre lot in central Scarborough is poised for preservation from development thanks to a $228,750 donation from taxpayers, but questions about the future of property remain unanswered.

The Scarborough Land Trust announced Monday that it has signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with property owner Harvey Warren for the site, which abuts Payne Road between Mussey Road and Bridges Drive and features 1,000 feet of frontage on the Nonesuch River.

“The land trust’s goal is to protect parcels close to the river, which is the largest source of fresh water for the Scarborough Marsh,” wrote land trust executive director Kathy Mills, in a prepared release.

The lot also abuts land trust property off Sawyer Road in Scottow Bog and lies across the Nonesuch River from two town-owned lots.

"Scarborough Land Trust has been working on this project for several years," said land trust president Jack Anderson. "We are extremely grateful to Harvey Warren for giving us the opportunity to protect this large, centrally located parcel. We are very pleased that the Parks and Recreation Land Bond Board recommended this project for funding, and that the Town Council unanimously approved our request for support." 

Mills noted that both Warren’s late wife, Elaine, and daughter, Becky Seel, have sat as land trust directors at various times since the land trust’s founding in 1977. The Warren Woods purchase pushes land trust holdings to more than 1,000 acres.

“It’s exciting because most of our conservation land is way, way out west, or north, or on the coast, whereas this parcel is right in the middle of town,” said Sue Foley-Ferguson, chairwoman of the town’s Parks and Conservation Land Board, when recommending the purchase to town councilors April 18. Foley-Ferguson noted several natural features on the property, including trail links to school athletic fields, a wild cranberry bog and wetlands forested with black spruce.

“Black spruce is becoming rarer and rarer this far south,” she said. “It is a species that is more abundant in colder, northern climates.”

The town donation, approved by the council 6-0, will come from $2.6 million remaining in a parks and conservation lands fund filled by voters at referendum in 2003 and again in 2009. It will cover 75 percent of the $285,000 purchase price, which will be based on a 2009 appraisal of Elaine Warren’s estate. The land trust plans to raise $76,250 to cover its share, to include surveying, environmental assessments and legal fees, for a total of $305,000. The property is now assessed by the town at $224,000.

“Following the town vote, the land trust is planning a fundraising campaign to raise funds for the balance of the purchase price and stewardship costs,” Mills said on Tuesday. “We hope to complete fundraising by the end of the year in order to close on the property.”

But while the dollars appear ready to fall into place, other issues remain to be settled.

Town Manager Tom Hall said at the April 18 meeting that the town may want to retain ownership to all or part of the property, particularly upland areas closest to Payne Road, which were cleared about 20 years ago for a golf course that never materialized.

“In perpetuity is a long time,” said Hall, referring to a proposal that would allow the land trust to extinguish all future development rights on the site. “In 50 or 100 years from now, the town may find itself with a need to develop ballfields. I would hate to encumbrance ourselves with covenants we might place on the land that could have some value.”

However, Hall pointed out that because “the vast majority” of the property is wetlands, “it is not suitable for development of any sort.” However, while Mills has said the land trust will own the property, Hall has suggested it may get no more than a conservation easement.

“In regards to ball fields, we have no immediate desire to do this,” said Hall. “I just want to make sure future generations have that option available, should the need arise.”

Whether it takes ownership, or grants a conservation easement, the council will have to conduct at least one more vote to complete the transaction, once the land trust has funds in place to close on the deal.

Land trust director Jeremy Wintersteen said his group would undertake a survey of the property before winter to map out areas that may be usable to the town.

“We’ll work with the council to come up with the best partnership strategy to protect the property,” he said.

That survey will also nail down the wetland boundaries, which, at present, remain a relative unknown.

“We’ve all driven by it and it certainly is a wet piece of property,” said Beech Ridge Road resident Dave Green. “When you start talking about black spruce growth, I think you are going to have some issues.”

Green urged the council not to approve granting funds to the project until the land trust can give a better assessment of the site.

“How much of it is wetland?” he asked. “Yes, there’s some open space, but can you even get a ballfield in there? If I was on the council, I would not go along with this until somebody gives me some better numbers. I think we ought to know what we’re going to buy, how much usable land there is and what the access is.”

However, while Foley-Ferguson held out the possibility the town and the land trust sharing in any profit derived from the lot from development along Payne Road, with a parking area and trail access site, if nothing else, she said the property is an end unto itself, as it sits.

“At this price the land is valuable for pure conservation purposes,” she said.