The mayor is asking for the City Council's support to use Community Preservation Act money to buy roughly an acre of property on Trapelo Road for open space.
The asking price for the parcel at 385 Trapelo Road is $595,000. Mayor Jeannette McCarthy said the plot is surrounded by the 55 acres of former Metropolitan Hospital property the city already owns. The land is across from the National Archives building.
Since the spending of CPA money is ultimately decided by the City Council, McCarthy asked councilors to support her application for the funding to the city's Community Preservation Committee.
"The next step would be, if there is support, to get an appraisal," McCarthy said yesterday
However, McCarthy said if the council does not support her application to use CPA funds, she wouldn't try to buy the land with bond money due to the unstable economy.
The city's CPA fund accumulates through property tax surcharges and state matching grants. The cash can be used for historical preservation, open space and recreation and affordable housing projects.
McCarthy said if the land is not bought by the city, it could be developed as a two- or three-lot subdivision.
The mayor said the chunk of property is essential for "open-space planning purposes" or if the city decided to reconsider plans to build a golf course on the Metropolitan State Hospital property.
Ward 3 Councilor George A. Darcy III said the property has a house and garage.
Darcy said it's important the city to purchase the property since the city already owns the surrounding land and because it's one of the few properties left on Trapelo Road the city can protect from development.
"There are very few parcels left on Trapelo Road," Darcy said.
The city has long discussed purchasing property at the 196-acre Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center campus on Trapelo Road - if the state ever decides to declare any of it surplus.
The Community Preservation Committee has recommended using $3 million from the city's CPA fund and another $14 million through a bond issue to purchase the Fernald land if it is ever put on the auction block.
City officials have said the Fernald land could be valued at roughly $1 million an acre.
Richard Conn can be contacted at 781-398-8004 or rconn@cnc.com.
