Well, that didn’t quite work out as expected, but I feel good about our decision.
As expected, the committee decided to sell the two smaller houses, with a preference for owner-occupied residents, you get them “as is” and get a 66 year lease on the land and can’t move them. The Collins House has a preference for commercial or public use. More details here.
The surprise came in where we decided NOT to sell the land underneath the Lincoln School. I even surprised myself, sort of.
I was beginning to regret selling the land to get improvements to the park, but when the committee heard that we had an agreement that we got Lincoln School back in another 25 years or so if we didn’t make this deal, things began to change with the rest of the committee members as well.
And, we did have alot of persuasive testimony about why we shouldn’t sell parkland now to fill a whole in a budget. It is short-sighted.
And, I was also kicking myself for not thinking of the rental housing as an asset to the neighborhood as it is one of the few places you can rent that is not trashed over-rented housing.
And, we had heard that many of the people in the rentals would not be able to live in the new condos because they could not afford them.
And, finally, I can’t see the sale of the land passing referendum. The houses, probably, the land, not so much.
So, in the end, we decided against recommending that the land be sold. You can read more about it here or here.
