Mount Tom land sale cleared by vote

By Kenneth Ross

05/12/2008- The Republican

HOLYOKE - A vote by the City Council has helped to clear the way for the possible purchase of 270 acres on Mount Tom for conservation.

The council voted 11-3 in favor of waiving the 120-day notice period required by law in an effort to complete the purchase by June 30.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation is negotiating to buy the land from WGGB Inc.-Channel 40. The 270 acres are at the summit of Mount Tom, adjacent to the Mount Tom State Reservation.
Some city councilors raised questions about the sale before voting in favor of waiving the 120-day notice period, but others noted that the sale does not involve the city.

"It's a private sale," said City Councilor Rebecca Lisi.

Mayor Michael J. Sullivan said in March that he was notified of the negotiations in a March 25 letter from Gary Davis Jr., general counsel to the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. In the letter, Davis asked the mayor to waive the 120-day notice period required to allow the state to complete a purchase by June 30.

Most of the site is ledge, and the land is unlikely to be developed, Sullivan said, so he had no problem granting the waiver. Having the land under permanent conservation restriction would benefit the city, he said.

The mayor went on to say that any loss of property taxes to the city would be negligible because the state is amenable to leaving the three acres at the summit where television and telecommunications towers are sited under the ownership of WGGB.

"We won't be adversely affected from a tax standpoint," Sullivan said on March 28.

He added that the city does not have the money to buy the land, and that it would have no value to the city. The mayor said he would "love it" if the state gave communities payments in place of property taxes when it acquired land to be put under permanent conservation restriction.

This would encourage more communities to preserve land, he said.

The land is valued at $348,900. Equipment, which would not be part of the sale, is assessed at $427,900, according to assessors' records.