NAHANT — Northeastern University is once again butting heads with the town over an offer the school made in September 2020 to place a conservation restriction on roughly eight acres of its property east of Murphy Bunker.
Officials from Northeastern say the offer — which includes the addition of public walking trails, a permanent easement to ensure continued public access to Canoe Beach, and $6 million in community benefits to mitigate construction impacts of the school’s proposed expansion to its Marine Science Center — was unnecessarily rejected by the Board of Selectmen ahead of Nahant’s May 15 Town Meeting, during which residents will vote on a motion to enact eminent domain over the property known as East Point.
“This (offer) would give the town for free what it is asking residents to spend $1.5 million on in Community Preservation Act funds to take by eminent domain,” Northeastern spokesman Michael Ferrari said.
In a statement also provided to The Item, Board of Selectmen Chair Joshua Antrim argued the offer — rejected by the board last September on the grounds that the proposal would force Nahant to drop its pending litigation and eminent domain enactment in exchange for a “fraction” of what the town seeks — is misleading and makes little sense in conjunction with the university’s proposed plans.
“The easement to Canoe Beach is nice. Northeastern did not offer publicly accessible trails on the rest of the property. In fact, there is nothing to indicate that the public would not continue to be banned from the property,” Antrim said. “Putting a Conservation Restriction on an area after completing the largest non-military development in the history of Nahant, in a Natural Resource area to boot, is just silly.”
In April, the selectmen voted unanimously to place an article on the annual Town Meeting warrant that, if passed, would allow Nahant to use Community Preservation Act funds — which are used for public areas of need, including affordable housing, historic resources, and recreational spaces — to enact eminent domain over East Point and declare the property a wildlife preserve, thus protecting it from future development.
According to Antrim, CPA funds do not affect the town’s operating budget or its tax rate in any way.
Ferrari later responded to Antrim’s statement by arguing that the selectmen’s previously stated cost of acquiring the land, which they estimated to be $2.5 million, is far too low and doesn’t account for construction delay costs of roughly $250,000 per month that the selectmen would be required to pay back should Nahant choose to abandon the land taking.
The selectmen have repeatedly denied Northeastern’s estimation, arguing that construction delay costs will not be included in the final number.
“Northeastern’s $6 million community benefits offer includes plans to restore native species and install hiking and walking trails over the conservation restriction to the east of Murphy Bunker, so of course the university intends for the public to have unfettered access to it,” Ferrari said, adding: “While the RKG (Associates, Inc.) report cited by the Selectmen was not an independent analysis, the estimated $8.8 million impact over 40 years suggests a path for further negotiation if voters reject eminent domain.
“The more serious concern for Nahant taxpayers is the Selectmen’s lowball estimate to acquire the property (through eminent domain) and obligation to indemnify Northeastern in full for damages it will suffer if the Selectmen walk away when the price gets too high.”
In addition to the conservation restriction and Canoe Beach access easement, Northeastern previously offered the town a multi-million dollar financial package to mitigate impacts the expansion project may have on the town’s infrastructure, help fix the town’s water and sewer system, and assist the town with operating and capital budget needs.
In September, the Board argued that in undertaking an assessment of the cost of Northeastern’s expansion, the town believed it would cost taxpayers substantially more than Northeastern’s initial offer, based on the University’s use of infrastructure and municipal services over several years.
“The $6 million offer doesn’t even come close to covering the $14 to $27 million projected cost to Nahant for hosting this expanded Northeastern over 40 years. So who makes up the $8 to $21 million shortfall? The taxpayers of Nahant,” Antrim said. “In summary, Northeastern’s offer boils down to: we develop the land, ban the public and cost the taxpayers hundreds of dollars per year to support our facility and staff, or Nahant can vote to spend $35 per year on eminent domain and get a beautiful, fully publicly accessible, park and conservation land. The people in Nahant are smart enough to make that easy choice.”
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected]
