Voters during a special town meeting last Thursday approved a measure that would allow the town to bid up to $5 million on 87 acres of land across from the Village Fire Station on North Street in Kennebunkport, Maine, that is likely headed for foreclosure next week.
The vote will allow Town Manager Laurie Smith to bid on behalf of the town at a real estate foreclosure auction scheduled for June 2. Smith said the town will "have a seat at the table" if the foreclosure goes through, but there's still a possibility that the current owner, CDMK LLC will resolve the issue prior to June 2.
The measure authorizes the town to issue up to $5 million in general obligation bonds to purchase the land.
Smith said the $5 million bond would have a 20-year life span and would change the mil rate by between 25 to 40 cents. This would equate to $25 to $40 a year on $100,000 in valuation.
The Board of Selectmen unanimously supported the idea of the town purchasing the land, saying it's a one-of-a-kind parcel.
"We don't know what we would do with it right now. It's really about preserving options for the town in the future," Selectman Sheila Matthews-Bull said. "We are thinking that it could be 20, 25, 30 years down the road. But once this parcel of land is gone, it's not going to come back."
Chairman of the Board Stuart Barwise agreed.
"We are interested in preserving it. I don't know what that may look like, and it may not even go to auction, but we want to be a player if it goes that far. If we do nothing today we may find ourselves in 10 years regretting our inaction," he said.
The land was purchased in January of 2006 from the Frink family by CDMK LLC, a Massachusetts-based development group.
According to Town Planner Werner Gilliam the property was approved in 2006 for a phased subdivision of 80 dwelling units, with a dozen in a multiplex building, and the rest of the units in duplexes.
Each phase of the development plan has a five-year life span, and the first phase is set to expire in September of this year if it's not substantially completed. Gilliam said that would include sewer, water and road development that would have to be substantially completed by September for it to fall within the first phase deadline. He said timber harvesting has been done on the property, as well as wetland reviews and a roadway base has been established but that's all.
Gilliam said if a new developer acquires the land, they could develop it under the current plan, but the Planning Board would have to review their financial capacity. Any development other than what is covered under the current approval would have to go before the Planning Board for full approval.
The town had the chance to purchase the property back in 2006. Selectman Ed Hutchins said although he wasn't on the board at the time, he thinks a lot of residents looked back on the decision to let it go to a developer with regret.
"I think we are all familiar with hindsight being 20/20. Well here we are, down the road. If you thought we should have bought it when it was available back then, then you should probably vote for this tonight," Hutchins said. "We don't know what we are going to do with it, but I sure know what somebody else will do with it."
Resident David James reminded everyone that any future expenditure of funds if the town were to acquire the land would have to go before a town vote, ensuring that town's people would retain control over how the land was used in the future.
"We have three or four major current subdivisions going in," James said. "So there should be no worries about living units. I think whenever we have the opportunity to preserve a parcel like this we should, and then be able to control what to do with it."
About 30 residents attended the special town meeting and after an hour of questions and discussion, overwhelmingly voted to support the measure.
