Claremont
Feleen said this week the City Council should have enforced an agreement that Claremont reached with dairy farmer Ed MacGlaflin back in 2003 for a land swap that would have given the city about 6 acres abutting the park in exchange for the 7.5 acres of city-owned land that MacGlaflin has used for growing corn.
“Not only could we expand Monadnock Park but the school system is in desperate need for playing field space,” said Feleen, a local attorney. “This amounts to a giveaway of seven and a half acres of taxpayer owned land for free. It is wrong.”
But Mayor Charlene Lovett and Assistant Mayor Allen Damren said MacGlaflin did not want to swap any of his land and that is why the council voted to convey the city-owned parcel to him when it voted on June 27 after an executive session to discuss the matter.
“He was not willing to do that. It is his property you can’t force him to give it up,” Lovett said.
The mayor said the conveyance agreement does give the city a right-of-way on MacGlaflin’s land along the Sugar River for a riverwalk if at some point the city decides to build one.
Finance Director Mary Walter, who is filling in for City Manager Ryan McNutt while he is on vacation, said it is her understanding the agreement has not been signed by either party as of Thursday.
The seven acres, which borders the Sugar River, is surrounded by a 53-acre parcel, identified as tax parcel 120-225, owned by MacGlaflin Farm LLC.
The 53 acres is bordered to the north and east by the Sugar River, to the south by the city’s rail trail and on the west a portion abuts Monadnock Park by the track and across a stand of trees and a drainage canal.
Feleen provided City Council members with a history of the matter including minutes from city council and planning board meetings outlining the agreement.
In 1971, the city leased the 7-plus acres to the previous owner of the surrounding property under a 30-year agreement for $100 a year. That agreement was transferred to MacGlaflin when he bought the land in 1996, though he has not paid any rent, Walter said.
In 2000, as the lease neared its expiration, the City Council authorized the city manager at the time, Robert Porter, to draft a land swap agreement with MacGlaflin.
In December that year, the council approved the swap that would give MacGlaflin the city’s seven acres and he would give the city about 6 acres for playing fields and a right-of-way along the river, according to the minutes.
“I guess what should have happened is the city should have had a signed purchase and sales agreement,” Feleen said. “I just figured the city attorney would have done what was necessary to effectuate the agreement.”
Three years later, in 2003, MacGlaflin presented an annexation plan to the Planning Board for the land swap and a 4,000-foot right-of-way on the river from the steel bridge off Washington Street to a city-owned lot on Meadow Street not far from the Puksta Bridge on Broad Street.
Minutes from that meeting show the board approved the annexation plan and it was recorded at the Registry of Deeds. But nothing further happened and according to Feleen, MacGlaflin refused to sign the deed or communicate with the city after that.
Messages left for MacGlaflin were not returned.
The Cabot dairy cooperative website says MacGlaflin Farm in Claremont has 400 acres and 400 milking cows.
“It seems they only shook hands on it,” Feleen said.
Assistant Mayor Damren said the June 27 vote likely was the best deal the city could get.
“It would have gone nowhere fast if for some reason we decided to hold out until he gave us that land,” Damren said on Wednesday.
But Feleen insists the city did have other options including evicting MacGlaflin from the city property, seeking back rent through court action, raising the rent or filing a petition to enforce the agreement.
“The fact that there is no written agreement or that Mr. MacGlaflin denies there is any agreement does not leave the city without options,” Feleen said in an email. “The city is basically back where it was 17 years ago and should pursue the matter for the benefit of the parks system. The city controls the 7.5 acre parcel, not Mr. MacGlaflin It should act accordingly.”
According to the minutes of the June 27 nonpublic session, McNutt opened the discussion and told the council of the 7.5 acres in the middle of MacGlaflin’s farmland and land that is owned by Mr. MacGlaflin that the city would like to take possession of to be used for a riverwalk.
“Mr. MacGlaflin agreed to give the City the land for the riverwalk in exchange for a quitclaim deed for the approximately 7.5 acres,” McNutt told the council according to the minutes.
Other than objections raised by councilor Nick Koloski about erosion along the river and his desire to hear from the Parks and Recreation Commission, the minutes show no other discussion.
Damren said on Thursday he recalled other ideas being discussed by the council but none were seen as a way to resolve the issue and this was “deemed the best.”
Koloski and Andre O’Hearne both voted against the agreement because they needed more information and were unprepared to discuss the matter because it was not specified on the agenda under nonpublic other than real estate.
“I had the same concerns brought up by Jim Feleen,” Koloski said this week. “I was not comfortable making a decision with the information we had. I have concerns about erosion (along the river) and about what exactly the city is receiving.”
Feleen said he also was upset because he has come before the council on the matter several times but was never informed it would be discussed or voted on at the June 27 meeting.
“It is not just me, but the entire community did not know,” he said. “It is too bad. It would have been nice for the parks.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
