Published February 6, 2020
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — When the Select Board meets Monday night, the discussion will be dominated by some significant land use matters at two separate public hearings. The board is hoping that the townspeople will turn out for both meetings, held in Room 14 at Town Hall, 235 North St., to provide their input into these discussions.
The first public hearing, at 7:30 p.m. — to consider the town’s right of first refusal to purchase the Seven Acres Poultry Farm at 14 Concord St. due to its tax status as a farm under MGL Ch. 61A – will mark the end of the use this land for the raising of turkeys and other fowl by members of the Magliozzi family for more that 80 years.
It is important to note, however, that throughout this process the Magliozzi family will continue to sell their products in their retail store, which has been their livelihood.
Their land also currently buffers the residential section of Concord Street and the nearby neighborhoods in and around Southwick Road/Park Street West from the industrially zoned section of Concord Street.
The town was initially notified of the purchase and sales agreement between the Magliozzis and Sergio Coviello in late December, however because the notice contained a deficiency in its language that was picked up during the town’s review of the paperwork and had listed the intended use of the land by the buyer for “industrial” purposes, a new notice was required identifying the correct zoning district of the farm which is residential. This notice was received on January 23, 2020 and provided the town with approximately an additional 30 days in which to take action.
The state statute provides a municipality with a 120-day window in which to act when a farm that has protected tax status is put up for sale. The P&S agreement submitted by the owners was $1.1M for 14 Concord Street.
If the Select Board votes to act on the town’s option to purchase, a Special Town Meeting (STM) would have to be scheduled in order to meet the statutory deadline. It is possible a STM could be called as soon as March 30.
Without any change in its zoning designation, seven homes could be built on the property by right. It is always possible that a future buyer could seek a change in the zoning designation of the property, but that must be done through a separate Town Meeting process.
There is also an option to purchase two contiguous lots owned by the Magliozzis – 4 Concord St., a single family farmhouse, and 12 Concord St., a two-family home with a barn.
All town departments and committees have been sent notice of the pending sale and Monday’s public hearing. Two site walks for the members of interested departments and committees were schedule to be held prior to Monday’s public hearing so that the members may be better informed about the land on which they are being asked to provide recommendations.
These site walks were not open to the general public. Such site walks are allowed for boards and committees that are subject to the Open Meeting Law provided no deliberations take place.
If the town decides to exercise its right of first refusal it is not required to have a known use for the site. The various options for how the town could finance such a sale would also be part of the conversation Monday. The proceeds from the sale of other town-owned land is always a possibility as just proceeds generally have a limited scope of what they can be used to buy.
Sale of town-owned land
The second public hearing on Monday will be held at 8:30 p.m. to discuss the disposition of 13 parcels of town-owned land to be sold at public auction.
These parcels of varying size are tax title properties and an abutter to each parcel has asked the town to consider selling the land. The Select Board has sold similar parcels in the past to get land back on the tax rolls. It is usually sold for the cost of recording the sale and drawing up maps and other paperwork.
But at the public hearing the board can add restrictions to any future sale of such parcels on a case by case basis depending upon the conditions. And since the parcels are sold at auction there is no guarantee that the abutters who requested the sale will be the ultimate buyer.
A complete list of the maps and parcel numbers plus street addresses and square footage of each parcel was included in a legal notice published in the Jan. 30 edition of the Transcript. An online version of the legal notice can be viewed and downloaded from our website at: https://bit.ly/2umhSOS