Politics & Government

State Grant Will Help Offset Cost of Ethel Walker Parcel

Simsbury open space purchase now in second phase.

A state open space grant will partially reimburse the town for the cost of purchasing 45 acres of open space from Ethel Walker School.

The grant, through the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, will pay for $691,666 of the cost of the land.

The cost of the purchase, approved by voters at referendum in May 2012, was about $2 million, according to the Hartford Courant. But that purchase is part of a larger deal, in which Simsbury agreed to purchase a total of about 420 acres of land for a total price of $13.9 million.

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The town closed on the first parcel – 330 acres – in 2007 for a price of $9.75 million, plus an additional $1 million to secure a price of $3 million for the additional 90 acres. The 90 acres were broken into two deals.

The town plans to purchase the second half of the 90 acres in 2014 for a price of $1.05 million. Of that, $500,000 will come from a grant.

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In total, about $2 million of the nearly $14 million price will come from grants.

According to First Selectman Mary Glassman, the combined 420-acre parcel will be one of the largest open space acquisitions the town has made.


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