Following a recent City Council vote, the door seemed to be slammed shut on the possibility of the city ever purchasing a one-acre lot on Trapelo Road that includes a historic home.
On Dec. 22, the City Council voted, 6-5, for Mayor Jeannette McCarthy's request for up to $5,000 from the city's Community Preservation Act fund for an appraisal on the property at 385 Trapelo Road. Eight "yes" votes were needed to approve the funding.
However, the city's Community Preservation Committee has the option of filing its own application for Community Preservation Act money for the purchase the property, William Durkee, the city's Community Preservation Act program manager said yesterday.
Durkee said the realtor for the property has invited all those who might be interested in it to tour the home today.
Durkee said that while there weren't enough votes last month to approve the money for an appraisal, he noted that not all 15 council members voted that night. "It looked like an ideal application," Durkee said.
Members of the Community Preservation Committee could be on hand to view the site today. Durkee said he hoped some city councilors could make it down to look at the house - which was built in 1755 - to get a better idea of its historic value.
"We really want to take a better look at it," Durkee said.
McCarthy originally applied for $601,000 in Community Preservation Act cash to buy the property, but scaled back that request to just the money for the appraisal. The land is bordered on all sides by property that the city already owns - the old Gaebler Children's Center, the former Metropolitan State Hospital campus and Elsie Turner Park.
The mayor said the land could be preserved as open space or used for recreation, and by acquiring the one-acre slice, the city could protect the north side of Trapelo Road from Lexington Street to the Belmont line.
McCarthy said yesterday that she would attend the viewing of the property scheduled for today at 1:30 p.m.
Even if another Community Preservation Act application for the property was brought forward and the money to buy it approved, the mayor said she doesn't think there would be 10 votes needed by the City Council to sign off on a deed for the land.
"I already told the real estate person that I did not think there were 10 votes," McCarthy said.
Richard Conn can be contacted at 781-398-8004 or rconn@cnc.com.
