By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — By a nearly unanimous vote, the 387 voters at Tuesday’s Special Town Meeting voted to purchase the property at 1 Central Street for $650,000.
The single family house lot owned by the Wheeler family is the “last piece of the puzzle” for the town to complete the development of land adjacent to the town’s popular Ipswich River Park for future municipal uses, explained Select Board Chair Liane Gonzalez.
Select Board Chair
Rita Mullin, a long-time member of both the Recreation Committee and the Land Utilization Committee (LUC), explained that the town’s desire for this parcel did not happen overnight. She explained that it was “27 years in the making” when the LUC was established to study, develop and build Ipswich River Park from the ground up using Hillview Enterprise funds.
“We took pride in what we did then. We looked to the future to leave a footprint and a road map of what we thought could be important for future generations… we went after our abutting parcels, patiently waiting one a time, to build a strong foundation for our Phase 2,” Mullin said.
The land known as 3R Central St. where the large Wheeler barn is located that currently houses equipment for Parks and Recreation, had been subdivided years ago by Ed Wheeler who had farm the land where the IRP playing fields are located for years. Their family home was set off at 0.54 acres until the time would come that his children would want to sell it.
Mullin added that this was the first time the LUC has asked the town and not the Hillview Enterprise to fund a land acquisition, noting that since the time the town voted to buy the land that became IRP by a margin of 639-1 a myriad of volunteers had kept their promise by raising their own funds to create this gem. Among the dozens of people she thanked for their decades of service were George Stack, chairman of the Hillview Commission since its inception in 1987, and Sergio Coviello for his decades of work on the Recreation Committee. She also recognized the late Michael O’Neill, who passed in July.
LUC and Rec. Committee
Mullin said, “Mike was the heart and soul of the committee. He was one of our founding fathers in his profession as a Civil Engineer; the other eight could not have done what he did. He retired after 20 years but he was our on-call engineer. Things mattered to Mike; he was a perfectionist.”
Mullin recalled that when the town hired the firm to design Ipswich River Park the board members were told that the amount of money O’Neill saved the town was “invaluable.” Mullin added, “90% of Ipswich River Park is exactly as he designed it.” She thanked his daughter Katie, who was in the audience, and said she was confident that Mike’s legacy and spirit of volunteerism would live on in Katie and his two young grandsons as they were already giving back to their community.
Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto explained that 1 Central Street contains a 1,804 square foot single family home with a 280 square foot detached garage and was valued at $641,000 by the town’s assessors. Nancy Wheeler and the Wheeler Realty Trust offered the town the right of first refusal and accepted the price of $650,000 if the sale could be completed by Feb. 15, 2024.
Town Administrator
Gilleberto also explained that Free Cash is not “free” but a term used by the state to define the funds left over from prior fiscal years. He said it cannot be used for recurring costs like salaries since the amount varies from year to year. It can be used for one-time purchases and the town’s Financial Planning Team works together to fill gaps in the budget with these funds. He described it as an “important tool” that has enabled the town to present a balanced budget to the voters at the annual town meeting in June.
Additionally, if the town were to use Free Cash to fund salaries or other recurring costs it would result in an unfavorable bond rating, Gilleberto said, which would make it more expensive for the town to borrow money when it must finance projects over the long term, he said. He stressed that no borrowing would be needed to buy this parcel.
Mullin promised that all of the planning for the future use of the parcel, combined with 5 Central St. and 3R Central St. would be transparent. She also invited those interested in applying to the openings on the LUC or Recreation Committee as members or associate members to contact the Town Administrator’s office as it is time for the next generation of volunteers to step forward and leave their mark.
The Special Town Meeting required a quorum of 150 voters and a two-thirds majority to approve the article because it involved a real estate transaction. When Town Moderator John Murphy called for a voice vote of those who approved the sale, a resounding “aye” was heard. Upon calling for those opposed only about four or five “nays” were heard. Based on this outcome he declared the motion had carried and no hand count would be necessary.
ARTICLE 2 was passed over because no transfers were needed in the FY24 operating budget.
ARTICLE 3
The Select Board, the Finance Committee and the Capital Improvement Planning Committee have all recommended the passage of Article 3. The three-part request under Article 3 to amend the FY24 Capital Budget was passed swiftly on a voice vote as follows:
- $515,000 for water tower painting at the Swan Pond water tower to be paid with $200,000 from “Water Enterprise Retained Earnings” and $315,000 from “Water Infrastructure Stabilization Fund.”
- $250,000 from Free Cash for Fire Department renovation design development phase expenses as follows: $200,000 for Owner’s Project Manager (OPM) services as required by the state and $50,000 for additional designer services.
- $68,750 from Free Cash for design and construction of improvements to the intersection of North and Central streets as follows: $50,000 in additional funding beyond what was authorized at the June Town Meeting and $18,750 in place of proceeds from prior borrowing.
This story was updated on Feb. 6 to include the name of Town Moderator John Murphy who called for the vote under Article 1.