The Mayor’s proposed land swap has taken an interesting turn. At a recent Town Council meeting, the Council conceded the land to be acquired from the Mayor’s campaign contributor and another commercial developer are not buildable and not intended for the hockey rink.
As it turns out, the Mayor’s proposed transfer of property is a type of shell game. The Mayor’s desired end result is to remove the hockey rink behind the municipal building and convert the space to a parking lot. The problem for the Mayor is the land upon which the hockey rink sits is state protected Green Acres land.
Under the Mayor’s tenure, he accepted Green Acres state funding to construct a park behind the municipal building. The Mayor chose to construct a hockey rink. By accepting the Green Acres funding, the land is designated open space and preserved for the public.
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In order to avoid the Green Acres restrictions on the protected land, the Mayor must complete a “diversion”. A diversion allows a municipality to build on the protected land if they are able to exchange “like” property.
In our situation, our Mayor wants to acquire the “useless” Route 70 lots as the “like” property. To get the “useless” Route 70 lots, the Mayor is giving one of his steadfast campaign contributors and another professional developer buildable Pine Lake Park lots worth approximately $150,000.
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In short, the Mayor wants to pave over State-protected open space. To do so, he is giving away $150,000 worth of our assets and returning to the residents of Manchester three Route 70 lots that will never be of use. Aside from his campaign contributor friend, how does this proposition benefit anyone in Manchester?
This issue is to be addressed at the Town Council meeting on August 25, 2014.