Miss the Lakeview Property Hearing? Catch Up Here

The Town of Wenham had an “incredible turnout” Tuesday night for a public hearing on the future of the Lakeview property adjacent to Route 1A.

The hearing was intended to present residents with a history of the situation as well as the options the town has as the current owners of the land seek to sell the property. The town, according to a presentation given at Tuesday’s hearing and available now online, has the option to purchase the property for its appraised value of $2.75 million or to allow the property to be sold to a third party to be developed under a particular set of regulations.

If the town does decide to purchase the land, it would then need to determine how best to use the land, whether keeping it open recreational space or moving forward with another plan.

According to the report, if the town waives its first-right of refusal, the developer who does purchase the land will be required to construct residential housing that meets the 10 percent affordable housing requirement as well as multiple other local requirements in addition to the standard state requirements.

If you missed the hearing, but do have opinions about what should be done, reach out lakeviewfeedback@wenhamma.gov.

Next steps include forming a citizens advisory committee to help conduct a preliminary evaluation of ideas for potential uses of the property if it is purchased by the Town. If you’re interested in serving on that committee email the town administrator at plombardi@wenhamma.gov by Friday, Jan. 22.

The Wenham Board of Selectmen will continue discussing this topic over the coming weeks during its regularly scheduled meetings.