Medfield has an election this coming Monday, October 21, 2013 to determine  whether to purchase the 31 acre Red Gate Farm property for the price of $1.4 m. that was negotiated by developers with the owner, Robin Kenny.  The purchase passed at the special town meeting (STM) last week, but the purchase only happens if it also has passed at the election ballot on Monday.

I support the town’s purchase, and wanted to explain why.

The town has a right of first refusal to buy the property because of the fact that the property for years paid little real estate taxes because the Kenny family had placed it in G. L. c. 61 designation as forest lands – the state encourages forest holdings by providing for lower real estate taxes.  Then, in exchange for the lower real estate taxes, the town gets a right of first refusal when the property comes out of forestry designation, and that is what is happening now.

The developers have fully permitted a seven lot subdivision on the property.  I find it to be a nicely crafted and a sensitive development, but I have decided that the town will be better served by buying the property for the following reasons:

• town residents will get greater rights of access to the whole 31 acres if the town owns the land, than if we only have the right of way across the land.
• it is more important to me that the town own and control this land where it is adjacent to the 25 acres scout lands to the South.
• the price seems remarkably reasonable to me, for what the town will get.

However, town ownership does come at a cost, and voters will have to determine for themselves whether they are so interested in the town ownership that they are willing to personally pay, albeit at a great price, to acquire the land.  For me, the benefits outweigh the costs.

I hope that everyone will vote on Monday.