NEW GLOUCESTER – Selectmen have signed a $168,000 agreement to buy 25 acres on Route 100 for a fire station.
Chairman Steve Libby said the board’s negotiations through Steve Chandler of New Gloucester, a partner of Chandler Brothers, a family-owned land company, have been ongoing for many months.
“It’s extremely rare that high-value property comes up for sale,” Libby said. “We are grateful to Steve and Chandler Brothers.”
Chandler is a former New Gloucester selectman and serves on the town zoning committee.
Chandler Brothers owns roughly 2,700 acres scattered throughout New Gloucester. Much of the land is managed for timber harvesting and a portion is dedicated to a gravel mining.
The parcel the town bought on Route 100 is across from Pine Tree Seed Co. and west of Birchwood Acres.
A recent appraisal performed by Matthew Sturgis of Gray, a former New Gloucester selectman, set the land value at $168,000. Selectmen agreed to purchase the land for that price pending approval by New Gloucester voters.
Libby said a special town meeting is expected and may include two zoning amendment issues: accessory apartments and a fire protection ordinance.
Libby said the land could be paid for with Tax Increment Financing money, the taxes paid by October Corp. at Pineland, or the undesignated fund balance.
The taxes paid by October Corp. are sheltered through a tax increment financing plan that the town developed with state approval to pay for costly effects to the town from the development of Pineland.
In other business, selectmen signed a contract to hire RKG Associates of Durham, N.H., at $46,590 to perform a business and economic development study to be completed by March 31.
Finally, the board unanimously signed a release to J.P. Noonan regarding a tractor-trailer rollover in New Gloucester on July 15, 2004.
Under the agreement, New Hampshire-based J.P. Noonan agrees to pay $58,000 in reimbursement to the towns and groups that responded to the incident.
The accident closed Route 100 for 11 hours and residents had to evacuate their homes in light of volatile propane and diesel fuel under a hazardous materials team plan.
All towns that responded to the accident will sign the release and waive all claims against J.P. Noonan and Annetta Weinhardt of New Gloucester, the driver of the car that was involved in the accident.
Comments are no longer available on this story