By Richard Conn/Daily News Staff
Daily News Tribune
GHS
Posted May 21, 2008 @ 12:01 AM
WALTHAM —

The Community Preservation Committee last night recommended using $3 million in cash and another $14 million through a bond issue to buy some 100 acres at the Walter E. Fernald Center if the state makes the land available.

The money is available through the city's Community Preservation Act fund. The bond issue would be repaid over time from the property tax surcharge account that makes up a portion of the CPA fund.

The $3 million in cash has to be approved by the City Council and the bond issue would have to approved by both the council and Mayor Jeannette McCarthy.

"We're showing that we want to do something," said Joseph Maguire, chairman of the Community Preservation Committee. "It's up to them to follow through."

Councilors George A. Darcy III, Kathleen McMenimen and Thomas Curtin originally applied for $6 million in CPA cash so the city would have the money ready if the state declares any or all of the 196-acre campus on Trapelo Road as surplus. However, members of the Community Preservation Committee were concerned that if they approved that amount there would not be enough left over to pay for other projects.

That is when the idea to float a bond issue was hatched. McCarthy told the committee last week that the only bond issue she would approve would be for the purchase of Fernald land.

The cash and the bond issue would be for a down payment on the 100 acres. McCarthy told the committee last week that the land could go for $1 million an acre. Under proposed state legislation regarding surplus land, cities that act within a 90-day window to make a purchase would receive a discount, said Waltham CPA Manager William Durkee. The cash and bond issue are designed to cover at least 20 percent of the purchase price.

''It's a better solution we think than the $6 million inquiry we received on the application," Durkee said.

The importance of the land to the city was made made clear by the councilors and the mayor last week. They said they wanted to protect it from dense development.

Darcy said that if the entire parcel was redeveloped, there was the potential for up to 2,800 housing units there.

The request for CPA money for the Fernald site was made under all of the categories for which the money can be used - open space and recreation, historic preservation and affordable housing.

However, Darcy said he only wanted to see the existing buildings on the site rehabilitated for housing, with the bulk of the property preserved as open space.

The Fernald Center is at the center of an ongoing court battle.

In 2003, the state announced plans to close the facility. A group of guardians known as the Fernald League have fought to keep it open, claiming the move could be harmful to longtime residents.

Last August, U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that Fernald's current residents must be given the option to stay there if they so choose. The state has appealed the decision.

Richard Conn can be contacted at 781-398-8004 or rconn@cnc.com.
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