News

Libby Hill purchase stalls out
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray-After several negotiation sessions held in executive session, the Gray Town Council has decided to pull back on pursuing purchasing the Libby Hill property.

Situated atop Libby Hill, the land is owned by the Hancock Land Management Company. The Hancocks indicated that they wanted to sell, which drew concern from a non-profit group who had been improving the land for recreational uses, according to a verbal agreement with HLM. The group, the Gray Community Endowment, has worked for several years to combine recreational trails with trails that exist on the two adjoining properties, owned by the Town of Gray and the School Department. If the Hancocks sell, it would orphan the municipal lands.

The negotiating team, which included MSAD-15 and the Gray Community Endowment group, said that they were not interested in a lease agreement, but would seek to acquire the property, absent the cell tower, their interest in the property was to preserve it as recreation space for the citizenry.

Hancock Land Management came in with an initial price of $343,000, which is 80% higher than the appraised value of $190,000. After several sessions, Hancock came down to the current asking price of $299,000. The Town presented a counter offer of $100,840, the cell tower rental income and a promise of dedicating the trail system to the Hancock's father, but to no avail. At this point the negotiations stalled out.

The Town announced that they will not bow out completely, but the current price makes the Town's interest in pursuing the land a remote possibility. The Town was prepared to pitch in $25,000, garnered from accumulated recreation impact fees, with the Endowment people bringing in the rest. The Town had already decided not to borrow to pay for the land, nor to increase taxes to pay for it, but to depend on the GCE for funding. The question on whether to purchase the land, if an equitable price had been agreed upon, would have been put to the citizenry for a vote.