
The 37-acre parcel the city intends to purchase. To the west is Pilgrim Road; north is Stillman Street and Hinckley Park; and southeast is the city’s border with Cape Elizabeth. Contributed / City of South Portland
The South Portland City Council on Tuesday authorized $1.5 million from the city’s Open Space Fund to purchase a 37-acre parcel of land for conservation and recreation.
The parcel off Pilgrim Road is just across Stillman Street from Hinckley Park and runs along the Cape Elizabeth border to the southeast.
Assistant City Manager Joshua Reny said the purchase has been months in the making.
“Initially, a broker working for the family who owns this parcel had reached out to the land trust,” he said. “The land trust connected the broker to city staff. It seemed like a very valuable piece of land so staff referred this inquiry to the Open Space Acquisition Committee.”
The committee is responsible for reviewing parcels of land for potential purchase, ranking them based on a list of criteria and making a recommendation to the council as to whether it should pursue a purchase or not. A parcel must go through this process if the Open Space Fund, which was created with a starting balance of $4.5 million by voters at a 2021 referendum, is to be used toward the purchase. Land purchased with the fund must either be conserved or used as open space with public access.
The assessed value of the property was over $1.8 million, Reny said, but the city was able to negotiate a $1.5 million purchase with the stipulation that an easement is placed on the land to prohibit development and ensure it is preserved as open space. After the $1.5 million is spent, roughly $2 million will remain in the fund, according to Reny.
“I can’t say enough about this property,” said Valerie Beggs, chair of the Open Space Acquisition Committee. “It’s pristine, natural woodland bordering a massive, rolling open meadow … Hinckley Park is more ledged and up and down and waterways and, if you were to get to this property, it opens up to a gigantic meadow and a whole other reality.”
Beggs urged councilors to vote in favor of the acquisition.
“Spaces like these, available to all, is what balances the often unnatural intensity and demands of our 21st-century lives,” she said. “They’re important and we’re working hard for that reason.”
Ahead of the unanimous vote in favor, some councilors echoed the importance of conserving open space, saying they can envision trails at the location and they can’t wait to use it themselves.
Mayor Richard Matthews emphasized that the purchase “does not affect your tax dollars” as the money was already allocated in the 2021 referendum and “this money was designated for this purpose.”
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