DALTON, Mass. — After navigating regulations that complicated the town's attempts to sell the Bardin property, the town is nearly rid of it. 

 

During last week's Select Board meeting, members signed the property's deed to Thomas and Esther Balardini for $150,000.  

 

This is the only offer for the property the state Department of Agricultural Resources received. 

 

The 148 acres of land, which consist of three parcels, came into the town's possession in 2016 in a taking for delinquent taxes. The town first placed a lien against the property in 2009.

 

Town meeting voted in 2022 in favor of selling the land rather than leasing it. The Select Board first announced the availability of the land during its meeting on June 27 of the same year.

 

The mandates set by an Agricultural Preservation Restriction were placed on all four parcels of the farm by its previous owner, James Edgar Bardin, for $260,000 in 1991. This APR impeded the town's previous attempts to sell the property. 

 

The Bardin estate still owns the fourth parcel in Windsor. The agreement also gives MDAR the right of first refusal if the land is to be sold.

 

The preservation program was the first of its kind in the nation when it was enacted in 1977 to

encourage farmers to maintain their land for agricultural use by paying them the difference between the fair market value and the fair market agricultural land value.

 

In exchange for this payment, there is a "permanent deed restriction which prevents any use of the property that will have a negative impact on its agricultural use," according to MDAR's guide.

 

"Since its enactment, nearly 1,000 farms totaling more than 73,000 acres have been protected, allowing farm owners to access the equity in their land while still maintaining ownership of it," Mai said previously. 

 

According to the agreement, the APR cannot be subdivided and can only be sold when unified. 

 

However, the APR became subdivided when the town took possession of three lots in Dalton, separating them from the four acres in Windsor. 

 

This issue was apparently not brought up in land court when the town took the land.

 

Although the parcels have not been unified, Mai clarified that the property sale is subject to the town's procurement process and the state's Right of First Refusal. 

 

"Neither the tax taking or the town's sale impacts the terms and provisions of the APR on the title to either the Dalton or the Windsor parcels," Mai said. 

 

"MDAR has informed current and future landowners that it would like to see the parcels held in common ownership." 

 

The buyers plan to operate a farm on the parcels in Dalton, which meet the APR's requirements. 

 

The state enacted its right of first refusal last November after the town attempted to sell the property to Charlotte Lind Crane for $150,000.

 

She had intended to build a residence on the property, which is against the APR, with the possibility of having a personal vegetable garden. 

 

Once enacted, town officials had the option to withdraw the purchase-and-sale agreement, request an extension for the buyer to submit a business plan to MDAR, or let MDAR exercise its rights. 

 

The board decided to let MDAR exercise its right to purchase the property for the proffered $150,000. 

 

Withdrawing the purchase-and-sale agreement offer would have required the board to start all over in the selling of the property. 

 

Board members chose not to ask for an extension for the buyer to submit a business plan since they believed the buyer had no intention to create a reasonable farm plan, which is required under the APR.