Edgartown checked the final box on their MOU agreement with the Boys and Girls Club and brainstormed capital wastewater projects for the Dukes County federal Covid-19 relief money at their meeting Tuesday.
The long-running deal between the town and the Boys and Girls Club was approved at Edgartown’s 2020 town meeting and involves a land transfer to the town in exchange for valuable easements at the club’s new property off the Edgartown-West Tisbury road.
According to town administrator James Hagerty, the club is set to close on a $2.8 million deal to purchase a 21-acre property owned by the Norton Family this Friday, July 9. The property, located near the town cemetery, will house a new, expanded club facility. Part of the deal involves an agreement with the town to swap a portion of the land for a planned cemetery expansion.
On Tuesday, selectmen approved a $636,467.50 check to pay for their approximately 4-acre portion of the Boys and Girls Club property, finalizing the conditions of the MOU.
“It’s been kind of a complicated real estate and legal deal that obviously was codified in the MOU. But this is the last step, with the town selectman approving the check, and the check getting transferred,” Mr. Hagerty said.
Select board members praised the effort.
“It works for the cemetery expansion. It works for the parks department. It gives the Boys and Girls Club a place to expand and expands the Edgartown School campus,” selectman Michael Donaroma said. “It was a lot of work, working with the Norton family. So this thing finally coming together, and I think it’s perfect, all the way around.”
In other business, Mr. Hagerty said that the town received a letter from Dukes County regarding the administration of approximately $3.2 million in federal coronavirus relief funds.
“Apparently the County is keeping their funding request money, and they’ve asked the towns, to solicit the town’s for some type of regional projects which we would see fit,” Mr. Hagerty explained.
In the letter, county manager Martina Thornton said the county had formed a six-member advisory committee with commissioners Don Leopold, Peter Wharton, John Cahill, and three county advisory board members, Jeff Kristal, Brian Packish, Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter 3rd. The letter requests towns submit a list of eligible projects for the funding.
Mr. Hagerty suggested at Tuesday’s meeting putting the money toward the $32 million in capital wastewater projects that the town has looming. Selectman Arthur Smadbeck agreed, saying the town would need a $300,000 project to study capital wastewater improvements in the near future.
“This is the perfect kind of project for the county’s money, considering that Edgartown handles almost all the Island’s septage,” Mr. Smadbeck said.
The federal ARPA money granted to counties across the county can be used in four broad buckets, including capital improvement projects involving wastewater. Select board members Margaret Serpa and Michael Donaroma agreed with Mr. Smadbeck’s assessment that wastewater would be an appropriate use for the funds.
The town has two major regional development projects on the horizon in addition to the Boys and Girls Club that will need wastewater hookups, including an affordable housing development off Meshacket Road and the planned Windemere nursing facility off the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
“We have no choice, it’s something we have to do,” Mr. Donaroma said, in reference to broader wastewater planning.
Selectmen voted to send a letter to the county saying that they had discussed uses for the funding, as well as other regional projects identified between Tuesday and July 15.
“I just want to echo kind of the sentiment about some of the wastewater studies and wastewater concerns,” Mr. Hagerty said. “These are all regional type projects that are going to require flows from the wastewater plant, and they’re all must haves the community for a variety of reasons.”
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