Selectmen vote to sell two lake front properties

After nearly two hours of discussion, the Ashburnham Board of Selectmen decided to sell two of the parcels of land it owns on Watatic Lake.

The parcel of land that raised the most debate during the selectmen's June 19 meeting was parcel 53 on Lake Shore Drive, because it offers the easiest and most accessible entry onto the lake.

Town Administrator Kevin Paicos recommended this lot

the Shore entry

be used as a point of entry for emergency vehicles and crews needing to get to the lake. Selectmen, as well as representatives from the Watatic Lake Association, agreed with this.

Paicos also said, after reviewing the three lots owned by the town, parcel 53 was the best spot for public access to the lake.

The town obtained three parcels of land along Watatic Lake through a tax title process, when the landowners fell delinquent on their property taxes.

This area could be used by Ashburnham residents who want to use the lake for passive (non-motorized boats) recreation purposes, Paicos said. These residents would be required to obtain a permit from the town, such as the ones for Lake Neukeag.

This suggestion concerned neighbors, who said the beach is too small to encourage the public to use.

Members of the lake association who attended the meeting said even if town officials limited the number of permits given out, it would still be too many people. They say this area, which isn't currently open to the public, is already overused.

Neighbors wanted to see the land given to the Watatic Lake Association, but Selectman Chairman Jonathan Dennehy said they could not just give land away.

Paicos reminded everyone that by using the request for proposal (RFP) process, selectmen could put any stipulations they wanted on the sale of the land.

The board voted to put parcel 53 in the request for proposal process with two contingencies. The first as an easement for public safety vehicles and second, that no construction could be done on the property.

Immediately after the vote, selectmen started discussion on whether price should be a factor in deciding who gets the land. Selectmen were not sure what role they wanted price to play in the RFP process, they decided to wait for further discussion to try to sell the property.

Selectmen voted to sell a second property, parcel 61, through the RFP process with the restrictions it could not be used as a separate building lot or as the site of a private septic system.

Neighbors said the building of a septic system was a concern because an abutter is the most likely buyer of the land.

After a brief discussion, selectmen agreed to hold off making any decisions on the third parcel of land, saying that more research needed to be done, including a land-use study. According to Paicos, most of the land surrounding this property is town owned, so it could be used to build on, or for some other town use.

In other business:

 Selectmen met with the owners of the Frederick's Piano Museum to discuss the lease of the town owned building at the corner of Main Street and Route 101.

The museum owners, Patricia and Michael Frederick, have to renegotiate the lease every three years as part of the contract with the town. The current rent for the building is $3,000 per year. However, Patricia and Michael Frederick, who run the

museum, used to have a deal with town officials where they pay $1 per year in rent in exchange for paying for renovations on the building. The Fredericks would like to see this type of agreement used for the next three years on their lease. They presented selectmen with a list of repairs that need to be done and that they plan on doing before their lease expires in 2010.

According to Patricia Frederick, the museum has spent over $74,000 on improvements to the building.

Dennehy said the Board was happy with what the Fredericks had done so far, but didn't want to make future decisions about rent yet.

"We are not sufficiently knowledgeable yet to make decisions on rent," Dennehy said.

He suggested that the building be appraised, so the board would have a starting point for deciding what to charge for rent. He also requested that the Fredericks give the board a detailed list of future repairs and their cost.

Although the current lease agreement expires at the end of June, the board agreed that until a decision was made, they would operate under the current conditions.

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Karen Mann is a 2006 graduate of Emerson College, in Boston, where she studied journalism. She resides in Townsend with her parents.