Lexington and Waltham's future is a little greener now that the Department of Conservation and Recreation will save Lot 1.
State Rep. Tom Stanley, D-Waltham, state Sen. Susan Fargo, D-Lincoln, and sate Rep. Jay Kaufman, D-Lexington spoke Monday at a ceremony outside the 54-acre property, each thanking the citizens of Waltham and Lexington for their support in the effort to save the land from development.
"This is the way government is supposed to work, with a careful collaboration between groups of local people and state officials," Fargo said.
In July, the House and Senate both passed bills that would transfer the land from the Department of Capital Asset Management to the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Lexington encompasses 47.5 acres of Lot 1, and the rest falls in Waltham. The land is the former campus of Middlesex County Hospital, which was left to the state after Middlesex County dissolved as a political entity in 1997. In 2003, then-Gov. Mitt Romney enacted an initiative known as Outside Section 548 that allowed the state Division of Capital Asset Management to auction land without the input of local governments.
Stanley, Fargo, and Kaufman have fought to stall an initiative to sell the land to developers for several years. All three mentioned that things became much easier once Gov. Deval Patrick took office, citing some difficulty with the previous administration.
"It's been quite an effort," Stanley said. "We didn't give up and that's because of the support of all of you."
Lot 1 is part of the nearly 1,000 acres of conservation land known as the Western Greenway, which includes lands in Lexington, Waltham and Belmont.
