The City Council overwhelmingly backed Mayor Ted Bettencourt’s proposed 136-plus-acre purchase of land owned by Rousselot, which is set to shutter its operations later this month, comprising a large swath of the city’s municipal golf course.
Bettencourt and the company, which is the city’s largest land-owner, reached an agreement on a $9 million purchase price for the land, which connects to the 80 acres of open space city officials purchased for millions earlier this year. In all, across both purchases, the city will spend more than $16 million to preserve open space and to bring its municipal golf course entirely under its ownership. In doing so, Bettencourt and city officials also shut off the possibility for development on any of the open space, clearly a key priority for a city inundated with development thanks to the state’s Chapter 40B law.
Bettencourt delivered a lengthy presentation to councilors during a meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee, explaining that the purchase comprises four discrete parcels across the more than 136 acres, still only a fraction of the 400 owned by Rousselot in the city. Discussions about the future of that land are ongoing, but Bettencourt heavily implied that the city would be looking to buy much of the space.
The purchase — much like the open space acquired by the city earlier this year — will be funded entirely outside of the operating budget, with Community Preservation Act funds, proceeds from the golf course, and “other funding sources” used to cover the debt-service payments the city will make once the sale closes.
With councilors supporting the acquisition of both parcels, the city will own not just all the land comprising the golf course, but land stretching from the Welch School to essentially Lynn — more than 200 acres in all. And, if Bettencourt gets his way, all that land will be preserved as open space in perpetuity as he intends to return to the council to rezone the parcel just acquired from Rousselot as open space, not residential as it is currently.
Bettencourt said the city was purchasing the golf course because “it’s an important community asset,” rhetoric echoed by councilors during the meeting.
“It’s a long time coming that we own (the) entire municipal golf course that is a jewel in our city,” Councilor-at-Large Anne Manning Martin said.
Councilor-at-Large Ryan Melville suggested the city work to create walking trails in the area to take additional advantage of the open space, and provide an opportunity for “non-golfers” to get a use out of the land.
“That area should be something people should be able to utilize,” Melville said.
Councilor-at-Large Tom Gould, while supportive of the purchase, said the city should not rest on its laurels, and asked Bettencourt what the future holds for the rest of the Rousselot property.
Bettencourt said he hopes that the city could continue purchasing open space.
“I really hope the City of Peabody is a purchaser,” he said.
Ward 2 Councilor Peter McGinn, who dubbed the course a “a great open-space asset” and applauded Bettencourt for acting quickly on the purchase, made the motions necessary to authorize the purchase, which cleared the Legal Affairs, and later Finance, committees unanimously. The motions later passed the full council unanimously.
