Now It's Up To You: Should East Lyme Buy The Samuel Smith House?

Last night, East Lyme's Board of Finance unanimously approved a proposal for the town to buy the 300-year-old Samuel Smith house and turn it into a museum. For the folks who have been advocating buying the historic property since 2009, the vote was a hard-won victory but the deal isn't done yet.

Whether the town should use $425,000 from the Capital Non-recurring Fund to buy the property at 82 Plants Dam Road is now up to voters, who will be asked to make the final decision at a Special Town Meeting that will be held in East Lyme Town Hall at 7 p.m. on October 3.

For the Board of Finance, however, this wasn't a hard decision. Between the legwork done by the Samuel Smith CORE group and the negotiations handled by First Selectman Paul Formica, the ultimate cost to tax payers should be just $150,000 if all goes according to plan.

How The Price Came Down

The volunteers who make up the Samuel Smith CORE group are in the process of establishing a nonprofit organization to run the house and they will assume all responsibilities for raising money to cover the cost of needed repairs, which initial estimates put at about $30,000.

"There will be no further costs for maintenance for the town," said Formica.

The group is also working on securing a grant from the state to help pay for purchase and all parties are assured by the granting agency that the property qualifies, the state has the money, and no one else is in the running for this particular grant. If the town buys the property, it stands a very good chance of getting a grant that could cover half the cost. At the very least, the town should receive $65,000 toward the purchase price, Formica said. 

Formica, meanwhile, negotiated with the Huber family, which owns the property. It took a year to arrive at a final price but have they agreed to drop their original asking price from the high $500,000s to $425,000. Formica then negotiated with the Niantic Sportsmen's Club, which has a vested interest in buying land to secure a buffer zone between its shooting ranges and its neighbors.

The Niantic Sportsmen's Club has agreed to buy 9.5 acres of the 17-acre property from the town for $125,000. The club has also agreed to lease it, for a nominal amount of perhaps $1 a year, to the Samuel Smith CORE group for as long as the state grant allows. The group would be free to use the land any way it wants, including building a barn or creating a community garden.

Deadlines Are Looming

The final cost to the town, if all goes well, would be $150,000. For that to happen, however, the grant must be obtained—and the deadline for the grant application is October 26. The town, which must apply for the grant, wouldn't find out if it had the money until January of 2013, and then the Attorney General's office has to ratify the agreement.

Under the terms of the grant, the money has to be used to purchase the property. It's not money that could be used to reimburse the town after the fact, Formica said.

With that in mind, the town and the Hubers have agreed to set the closing date for the sale on or about March 15, 2013. The sale would be contingent on the Sportsmen's Club being part of the deal, but the club has the cash on hand to buy it and is keenly interested in doing so. The town also has the money, as the capital nonrecurring fund has more than $1 million in it.

Making Believers Out of Skeptics

"A lot of us were skeptical about another purchase," said Formica, speaking for many on the Board of Selectmen. "But it seems to be one of those homes that should be preserved."

That the town will be adding to its open space, gaining a museum at very little cost to the town, and with the deal in place with the Sportsman's Club (which would pay property taxes on its half of the land), Formica described it as a "win-win."

Now the issue is set to go before voters, the only potential hurdle would be if someone successfully petitioned to have the matter decided at a referendum rather than a Special Town Meeting. That would push the vote back far enough to "put a crimp in getting the grant," Formica said. 

What do you think? Should the town buy the Samuel Smith property? Let us know in the comments!