12/06/2020
Our organization’s Chair and Somerset’s Town Historian Mary Ann McDonald and our committee respectfully asks for your support on this article by attending Town Meeting and voting “yes” on article 14. Monday, December 7th SBRHS at 6pm. Thank you.
We are thankful that the Advisory and Finance Committee has voted to recommend our article for the acquisition of this land (will not cost the taxpayers any money. Including the demo of the house and site work — funding details will be broken down in our next post). Thank you to The Somerset Sentinel and George Austin for the write up.
We hope to see everyone at Town Meeting Monday December 7th at 6pm at the SBRHS Gym. COVID restrictions will be taken and social distancing enforced per state guidelines.
Here is an image of our lawn sign you may have seen around town. If you’d like a sign for your yard, please message us here with your address and we will deliver/install.
Thank you for your support! The Sentinel article is below:
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A&F Committee to recommend in favor of buying Main Street property
By GEORGE AUSTIN
SOMERSET - The Advisory and Finance Committee voted on Monday to recommend in favor of an article at the Dec. 7 Special Town Meeting that would authorize the selectmen to acquire a two acre piece of property at 200 Main St. in order to expand Somerset Village Waterfront Park.
"I can't really think of a better piece of property to buy," Advisory and Finance Committee Chairman Dominic Raffa said.
The article on the Special Town Meeting warrant asking for authorization to buy the property was submitted by citizens' petition. The property has a house on it. It is waterfront property with deep water in the back.
"I think they should buy the land," Mullen said.
The price for the Main Street property is $445,000. The land is owned by Shelia Ashcroft and Kim Morrow. Part of the agreement in purchasing the property would allow Ashcroft to live there for the rest of her life with a rent of $1,200 per month. She would also be responsible for costs of utilities and insurance. The house on the property would be knocked down in the future.
Advisory and Finance Committee member Doris Rousseau said that the income the town brings in from sales of properties must be invested in other town properties. Advisory and Finance Committee member Jason Gonsalves said the proposal that has been made would use $345,000 from the town's land acquisition account, $20,000 from a Taunton River Stewardship Council grant and $80,000 from free cash or the Community Preservation Act Account to purchase the property. He said the former Wilbur School property that was sold to a developer who is building apartments there and the Route 6 land that the town sold to a hotel developer brought in more than $350,000. Raffa said money from the land acquisition account was used for capital improvements that he did not know about. Rousseau said capital improvements could be made to town properties with money from the land acquisition fund. Advisory and Finance Committee member James Teixeira said other town properties could be sold to put money into the land acquisition account to purchase the land on Main Street.
Advisory and Finance Committee member Michael Pasternak said if the money can be used to make capital improvements for town properties, maybe it should be used on school buildings that need a lot of work. Rousseau said school and town properties are different.
Advisory and Finance Committee member Robert Mullen said if the town buys the property and sells it in 10 years, it could make a profit off it.
The Advisory and Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend in favor of the article. Raffa, Mullen, Teixeira, Rousseau, Gonsalves, Pasternak, Denise DeLeo and Tracey Wallace all voted in favor.
The Main Street property is part of an area of Somerset that has a rich history. Some of the first houses in Somerset were built in that area that is known as Somerset Village. There is a picture of a whaling ship that was docked off the property.
The Somerset Village Waterfront Park that the land would expand is often filled to capacity on the weekends with people who are using the boat ramp there. There is also a playground and picnic tables there.
In order to pass at the Special Town Meeting, at least two-thirds of the voters in attendance would have to vote in favor of authorizing the selectmen to buy the property. The Special Town Meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Dec. 7 in the gymnasium of Somerset Berkley Regional High School.
