Canton Special Town Meeting Approves St. Gerard Land Purchase

CANTON, MA - Town Meeting members voted at a Special Town Meeting Wednesday night to authorize the Canton Select Board to acquire the now-closed St. Gerard Parish for municipal purposes by more than a two-thirds margin through a debt exclusion.

The next step in the process is for voters to approve the proposed purchase and the debt exclusion to finance it in a special election on Dec. 14. Early voting began at Town Hall on Saturday. The measure must pass by a majority vote to go into effect.

Tom McKenna, chair of the Finance Committee, presented a version of the article that was issued at the beginning of the meeting in a separate handout. This version of Article Two, which was unanimously approved by the Finance Committee and the Capital Planning Committee earlier in the week, authorized the Select Board to acquire the property through debt capital with the specified a dollar amount of not to exceed $3.305 million.

The debt exclusion, based on a 20-year bond issued at a 3.5% interest rate, would cost the average residential taxpayer an average additional tax of about $17 per year over the next 20 years. In this analysis, an average residential taxpayer is considered to have a home tax assessed on a home value of $570,000. Rates could fluctuate over the period of the bond and are expected to decline over the length of the term.

Select Board Chair Michael Loughran said the $3.305 million figure "was based on an offer that we believe the church in good faith is going to accept from the town for that property."

Dave Emhardt, chair of the Capital Planning Committee, explained that the committee met several times and decided to unanimously approve the motion on Nov. 29.

"We feel that there are a lot of identified needs that the town is going to have in the future," he said. "It is prudent to acquire land now that can be purchased at low interest rates for a pretty good price and hope that, with minimal operating costs, [it can be maintained] until the town decides the proper use that they want for that land."

Earlier in the meeting Select Board vice chair Lisa Lopez noted that in addition to the town, there are other prespective buyers, including private developers, other churches, and a daycare provider.

"It is a uniquely attractive site for municipal purposes," she said. "It is a strategic location in town that doesn't get served by a lot of municipal services and could be convenient. It's right on Washington Street, the main thoroughfare, and it includes a significant amount of open space and wetlands that could be very, very important to preventing flooding and adapting to the inevitablity of the climate resiliency that we want to establish going forward."

Time is of the essence in deciding on the land acquisition, as the Archdiocese of Boston is intent on selling it, Lopez added. Because of this urgency, there currently was no single proposed use for the site.

Some of the ideas that have been mentioned as town needs include new space for a senior center because by 2030, 40 percent of Canton residents will be over the age of 50, according to Lopez. There is also a need for space for the food pantry, veterans services, school administrative space in addtion to open and recreational space.

Other current debt exclusion projects, such as the high school and the library, are going to be paid off soon, which may lower the debt exclusion cost for the acquisition.

While some Town Meeting members supported the purchase of the land, others questioned the expense.

"I oppose the purchase of this property," said resident Bruce Rohr. "We can't afford the operating expenses starting the day we purchase the property, nor the expenses required to turn it into something that will be useful to Canton residents."

He stressed that OPEB, or Other Post Employment Benefits, are going to strain the town's budget in the upcoming years. The upcoming need to build a new middle school was another concern.

Without a plan for the property, member Alan Freedman said that the purchase was like "writing out a blank check."

"You have no idea what it's going to cost to run it," he said, "and you have no idea what you're going to do with it."

Select Board member John Connolly said he was one of the two Select Board members who voted against the purchase in a 3-2 decision.

"I stand here with pretty much a heavy heart," he said, noting that he and his family have a long history in St. Gerard's Parish. He was afraid of possible contamination of the site and concerned about the possibility of asbestos in the building.

"If we buy it, we own it," he said, noting that the cost of remediation would be an additional expense.

Ellen Donovan, a neighbor of the property as well as the secretary of the Council on Aging, said the property would be a great benefit for elders and other community members as a human service center.

If the voters approve the debt exclusion for the purchase, there will be community outreach to determine the use of the site.