NEW GLOUCESTER — Selectmen on Monday night directed Town Manager Carrie Castonguay to contact the real estate broker marketing four tracts totaling roughly 200 acres owned by Wayfinder School of New Gloucester.

Selectmen said they are interested in two lots, one with 24 acres and another with 93 acres, both off Gloucester Hill Road. They need time to develop a plan by Jan. 30, and have a final plan by March 1 so voters could approve the purchase.

The property has been tax exempt.

The four tracts are along Route 100 and Gloucester Hill Road at the former Opportunity Farm For Boys & Girls. They are owned by Wayfinder Schools of Camden and New Gloucester.

The school provides two core educational programs to teens at risk for not completing high school and a nine-month residential home-based passages program for teen parents striving to complete their high school education.

Last month, selectmen learned the parcels were for sale. One lot below the old red barn on Gloucester Hill Road with a commanding view to the east, is under contract. The school will keep the red barn along with two to four acres of land.

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Three lots remain. A 60-acre lot off Route 100 abutting the Fire and Rescue Station and the future Highway Department complex would be divided from a section of Wayfinder’s larger Gloucester Hill Road campus lot.

In other business, the board appointed 14 residents to serve on a newly formed Comprehensive Plan Update Committee. The plan was adopted in the early 1990s. Named were Peter Bragdon, Stephen Chandler, Linda Chase, Sam Coggeshall, Caitlyn Davison, Terry DeWan, Julie Fralich, Donald Libby, Jean Libby, John Shattuck, Debra Smith, Ben Tettlebaum, Barbara Seaver and Ben Davison.

Also, Girl Scouts Abigail Ladd and Sharlena LaVallee presented three parking signs for veterans. The signs will be at the Town Hall, Veterans Monument and the Fire Station.

Finally, the board agreed to create a Candidate Forum/Referendum Committee of five people to handle future candidate and referendum night presentations.


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