The Town Council voted Tuesday night to purchase a home in the center of town to help expand the Community Path through the center of town, but not all councilors agreed with the move.
The owners of house, which sits on Winter Street just off Church Street, approached the town to see if officials would be interested in purchasing the property, said Town Manager Michael Driscoll.
After a few months of negotiations, the town agreed to pay $796,000 for the house at 10 Winter Street. The money will come from the town’s Free Cash funds.
The land will help the town link the multi-use path, that runs along Arsenal Street and comes into Watertown Square, but stops before starting up in Saltonstall Park, across the field from the back of Town Hall.
Councilor Aaron Dushku said the purchase of the home will help the town build the path, while not impact parking in Watertown Square.
“All the other scenarios involve a big loss of parking,” Dushku said. “I don’t want the Community Path to do that, be burdening on the patrons of the Square.”
The town will essentially be trading one piece of property for another, Dushku said, because the town is in the process of looking to sell the former East Branch Library on Mt. Auburn Street.
Councilor Angeline Kounelis represents the East End, and she said many people in her district have told her they don’t like the deal.
“I hate to be put in the position of making the East Branch Library the sacrificial lamb,” Kounelis said.
She noted that the Winter Street home, which has four units, sits on .088 acres of land and has an assessed value of $524,000.
If the town does not purchase the home, Councilor Susan Falkoff fears that a developer could build something bigger.
Council Vice President Vincent Piccirilli said the house sits in a difficult location, right in the center of town, between the town’s municipal buildings and the Watertown Square shopping area. It also impacts traffic flow in the area.
“I see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Piccirilli said. “I think it is appropriate to use one time money on a one time expense.”
Councilor Michael Dattoli said he does not think this is the right place to be spending the town’s Free Cash.
“We talk about the East Branch Library as a property we let fall apart,” Dattoli said. “I am looking at other properties, such as the vacant Police Station, and I don’t feel it is an appropriate way to spend the money when the town has other properties that need work.”
The Council voted 7-2 to acquire the home, with Kounelis and Dattoli voting “no.” The vote to take the home by eminent domain was 7-1-1, with Kounelis voting No and Dattoli voting present. The two counilors also voted against the budget amendment that included the money to purchase the home.
While the home is being taken by eminent domain, town attorney Mark Reich said it is not an adversarial taking. In this case it is a friendly exchange of property for a fair compensation, he said.
With eminent domain, there is no closing period, Reich said. With the Council approving the purchase, the town will take over the property as soon as the check is issued and clears. Driscoll said that could take a few weeks.
Thank you Angeline Kounelis and Michael Dattoli for voting No. I am sure that the one time money could have been used for a better purpose. We pay for the building, pay to have it torn down and disposed of, and then pay to make the property ready for a bike path, pave for the bike path, etc. What will the total cost be? Well over a million dollars I would think.
$800,000 down the drain to finance a special interest project.
Interesting that when the Town had a real need… namely a new Police Station, people refused to consider taking that same house by eminent domain. As a result, we tore down a School Building to build a Police Station. Now we have no room for students in classrooms. And BTW, the tenant in that school building was paying use $200,000 per year for maintenance of our schools. So we threw away over $2 million in rental income all these years.
So now we’re going waste all this money to Bike Path! As if we don’t have enough of them, as if we haven’t screwed up traffic enough on major arteries with bike lanes, for the handful of people that use them.
That by the way is the very definition of a Special Interest Group….. a subset of people, with a Special (unique, particular) desire or want, at the expense of everyone else!
You are 100% on the money Mr. DiMascio. But we all know that trying to keep the Police Station centralized would have gone against the pre ordained plan. And I’ll bet
that one of the contributors to this particular story doesn’t even know what we’re talking about, nor does he even own property in Watertown.
Actually, he’s not on the money. The bike path could have been accomplished without buying the house, but would have cost parking spaces. So maybe you will find the purchase of the house easier to swallow if you think of it as preserving parking. Or do you consider drivers a “special interest group”.
What the devil is so “special interest” about a bike path? All in the community and all visitors will be able to use it. It will give Watertown children an alternative way to get around without riding on roadways or sidewalks–a safety plus. Since it will eventually connect with trails that go all the way to North Station, it may help take traffic off the roads. Sounds like a community asset to me. An enhancement.
I would call this a case of special interest just on the grounds that a very small percentage of the town’s residents will use it, probably less than 3% and if that is good enough to spend $800,000 plus than what else can I say. How about a project that would benefit a much larger percentage of the population, there must be a couple of projects that folks could come up with. Even buying the property and razing its potential future use is better than a bike path. I am sure that if you ride a bike then you will not agree with me but my thoughts are my thoughts.
John, people said the same thing about the Minuteman bike path in Arlington and Lexington. It is now the most utilized bike path in the country. And you don’t have to ride a bike to use it–you can walk as well.
Is this the type of project that could be financed through the CPA?
I am completely serious and would like a real answer.
Some of us citizens do better understanding real world examples 🙂
Yes, I think that would qualify because it is being used for open space
Hi, everyone. I’m happy that I got a little quote in some of the articles on this one but I want to elaborate on why I voted the way I did. Please see my response to another critical remark on this separate feed:
http://www.watertownmanews.com/2016/10/29/letter-town-councilor-explains-his-position-on-the-cpa-ballot-question/#comment-12013
Fact: The Patriots crushed Buffalo. Revenge is sweet.
Fact: There is a thirty inch water pipe under the existing parking strip
between the property in question and the bank parking lot that gravity
feeds Fresh Pond from the Cambridge water supply located in Lexington
– Lincoln – Weston & Waltham. So no structures can be built there.
Fact: 800K to pick up 85 feet of property for a dozen extra parking spaces???
Question: From the house, where is the bike path heading South Easterly???
Harry, eventually the path will link up to the path that will go directly to North Station, so it will be a serious boon to bicycle commuters.
I don’t know exactly how the path will cross Mt. Auburn. I believe that is one of the more difficult problems to be solved.