Edgartown officials are eyeing a deal to preserve a pair of farmland parcels in Katama that the county government is looking to offload to bolster its budget.
The town select board held a closed door executive session Monday to discuss the properties at 9 and 13 Aero avenue after the Dukes County Commission announced its intentions to sell the land.
The potential sale of the land raised concerns among town officials and the Farm Institute, which has been using the property for its animals and to access its farmland.
While details have not been hammered out, Edgartown town administrator James Hagerty said the town doesn’t want to see the combined 1.2 acres, assessed at $1.5 million, become built up.
“The town is interested in not having those turn into single family lots,” said Mr. Hagerty said in an interview Tuesday.
The county purchased the properties in 1979 for $7,500 a piece, according to assessor records, but in recent months has been looking at selling them after conducting an inventory of all of the county-owned land.
After that study, the county’s land use committee determined the county didn’t have a use for the two potentially very valuable lots, according to Martina Thornton, the county manager.
“Therefore, [the Dukes County Commission] declared them surplus to see if the State or the Town would have use for them and the County could raise some additional revenue, as has been the request of the Towns to the County for many years to ease the burden of county expenses on taxpayers,” she wrote in an email.
Town officials expressed worries about a potential sale at the beginning of the year. The town conservation commission wrote to the county in January to say that Edgartown was running under the assumption that these properties were intended for long-term conservation agriculture and open space.
“These lands play a role in supporting open space, habitat protection, and the rural character of the area, all of which are central to the shared conservation objectives of the Town and the County,” Edgartown conservation commission chair Edward Vincent wrote.
The county first offered the properties to the state, which declined to purchase them, and then turned to the town in September.
At a select board meeting earlier this month, Lindsay Brown, a senior manager at the Farm Institute, said farm staff cross these properties daily to get to the 162-acre farm. The land has also been used for grazing.
“It’s a pretty crucial part of the farm there,” she said.
Christian Walkis, the farm manager at Slough Farm, also told the select board that preserving every last piece of farm land on the Vineyard is crucial.
“Farm land on the Island is sort of a vanishing resource,” he said. “And it feels important to me personally and to us organizationally to continue to protect and preserve as much of it as we possibly can.”
Though the land has been used for farming by the Farm Institute, Dukes County Commission chair Christine Todd said it was unclear if it was ever actually set aside for the nonprofit’s use.
“I think that we’ve got to find out exactly where this land stands in terms of title and everything else she said at Monday’s meeting,” she said. Ms. Thornton said she was unaware of any standing agreement.
“I’ve been a county manager for the last 12 years, and I have never heard of or signed any lease or anything on behalf of the county.”
Charles Leitner contributed to this article.