Marblehead seeks $1.2M for purchase, clean up project

MARBLEHEAD – A year seems to have added more cost to the town?s proposed purchase of Jeff Dinsmore?s 57 Stony Brook Road home and the clean-up of that landfill-contaminated property.In 2010 the town offered to purchase Dinsmore?s home for $899,950 after closed-door negotiations.The purchase passed at Town Meeting, but failed in a debt exclusion override election a month later.This year, Assistant Town Counsel Lisa Mead said the town is seeking $1.2 million for the project, $277,00 for the clean-up and legal fees and an estimated $970,000 for the purchase of the house.But town officials have yet to reach agreement with Dinsmore and are gearing up for eminent domain proceedings. Under eminent domain, the town would obtain an appraisal of the property and pay Dinsmore the appraisal amount.Dinsmore said he hoped to avoid eminent domain when he attended a Finance Committee meeting last week, but expressed his surprise at the town?s figures.?I?m disappointed to hear those numbers thrown out,” he said. “Living through this has been a challenge. Our intention has been to negotiate in good faith from the start and I?d like that to be known.”In a separate action, the town is also seeking $1.8 million for the purchase and clean-up of three more parcels, a vacant lot at 56 Stony Brook Road, a portion of a house lot at 55 Stony Brook Road and an easement at 52 Stony Brook Road.Mead said the land-takings at 55, 56 and 57 Stony Brook Road would become public land once the clean-up is finished.The Finance Committee has recommended that Town Meeting approve both proposals.