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The Washington Board of Selectmen voted unanimously on November 9th to present the Potter Farm Proposition to the citizens of Washington for their consideration at a Town Meeting in January 2007. The Selectmen offer the following background information. Public Information meetings will be held on Nov. 28, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.; December 14, St. Andrew’s Church, Marbledale, 7:30 p.m., Jan. 6, Town Hall, 10 a.m.

POTTER FARM PROPOSITION

A TOWN OF WASHINGTON PROPOSAL FOR
AFFORDABLE HOME OWNERSHIP,
MANAGEMENT OF TOWN GROWTH,
AND
PRESERVATION OF OPEN SPACE

The Potter Farm, located between Old Litchfield Road (Route 109), Sunny Ridge Road, Shearer Road and Hinkle Road, is for sale. Arthur Potter founded the dairy farm in the 1940's after he settled in Washington following World War II. An internationally acclaimed Holstein dairy farm, the Potter's have sold cattle and embryos to 35 countries and all over the United States. The milking operation ended in 2005and moved to New York State. Shortly, all dairying activity will cease. John and Tim Potter, ready for retirement, tried various ways to keep the farm intact for Sam Potter to operate. All to no avail. No single purchaser or consortium of owners could be found to keep the farm running.

Real estate investors have shown interest in dividing the land for housing development. Three months ago the Potters approached the Board of Selectmen to ask if the Town might be interested in preserving much of the farmland. The Selectmen negotiated with the Potters, producing the proposition below that provides lots for affordable housing, limits further development to 3 additional homes (3 already exist) by the purchase of 'development rights' to 97 acres, and permanently preserves 78 acres of farmland free from development.

The Proposition will:

COST TO THE TOWN: $1.5 MILLION (Proposal Price: $2 million minus a contribution of $500,000 from the Washington Community Housing Trust.)

TOWN VALUES: The Potter Farm Proposition addresses priority town values expressed in the 2003 Plan of Conservation and Development and the 2004 Town Planning Process: Open Space and Housing, and Control of Taxes.

  1. AFFORDABLE HOME OWNERSHIP: The Potter Farm Proposition includes the outright purchase of five lots, each suitable for a single-family, limited-equity home. These lots will be turned over to the Washington Community Housing Trust (WCHT). The Trust will administer a 'Limited Equity Home Ownership Program' for low-to-moderate income town families who want to own their own home. Families will have a long-term, low-cost lease of land from the WCHT and secure a mortgage from a bank with which to build their houses. They will pay town taxes and meet all financial obligations. When a family moves, it will sell the house to the WCHT for the amount it has invested, plus improvements, plus a limited-equity mark-up to cover inflation and a small return on investment. The Trust will then sell the house to another eligible family at the limited price markup, thereby keeping the house affordable in perpetuity.

  2. MANAGE TOWN GROWTH & PRESERVE OPEN SPACE: The Town will manage growth along Old Litchfield Road and control housing development on the farm by purchasing the development rights of 97 acres. This means:

    1) 78 acres of farmland will be permanently preserved open space and forever free from development. Conservation easements attached to the deeds will be held by the Town.

    2) Housing development will be limited to a maximum of six home lots (in addition to the five affordable home sites as above). Each 10 to 30 acre lot will have a 3-acre building envelope where a single family home can be built. Currently, three of the lots have houses on them.

    The Potters will continue to own or sell the six lots with the permanent conservation easements attached to them. The preserved open space will not be available for public use, being owned and maintained by each of the six homeowners. The majority of the open space on the main farm parcel, although spread over six lots, is contiguous and may continue to be used for agriculture. Result: The open farm fields to the north of Route 109 will remain largely free of development.

  3. CONTROL PROPERTY TAXES: Another value important to the town is the control of property taxes. By limiting development on the Potter Farm, the Proposition increases property tax revenue from current levels. It also limits 'Impact' costs for town and educational services by ensuring the property will not be densely developed.

    1. Development Pressure: In the past 2 years large housing developers have been considering the Potter Farm for high density development. By using current zoning regulations, one developer has said that he could build 25 houses. Two others mentioned throwing out local zoning laws and building 60 and 200 units by using the Affordable Housing Appeals Act. High-density development of this farmland is entirely possible. With high density come high Impact costs and demands for town servicesincluding Education.

    2. High-Density Development--25-House Subdivision: It is useful to compare the Potter Farm Proposition (assuming six large home sites @ $1,500,000 each along with five limited equity parcels @ $350,000 each) with how a 25-house subdivision at $700,000 each would affect the town in terms of tax and service impact.

      Annual $ Revenues (+) and Costs (-)

      Tax Increases Education Costs* Net

      11 House Potter Farm Proposal + 78,300 - 184,100 - 56,700

      25 House Development + 135,000 - 413,200 - 229,100

      Difference $ 56,700 - 229,100 -172,400

      _____

      * Assumes 1 public school child per household at 2006-7 avg. Reg.12 cost/student

      Development would increase traffic on town roads and raise demands for public services, further impacting the town budget.

    3. Tax Revenue for the Town: Another consideration is that the property is currently taxed as agricultural land, yielding approximately $12,000 per year in taxes. If the Proposal is 'built out' as expected (yielding 11 total homes), the annual tax revenue would be approximately $90,000 per year.

THE PROPOSITION COSTS $2MILLION ($1.5 million from taxes) HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH?

FINANCING:

One possible way to fund the Proposition might be:

  1. Draw from the town's General Fund reserves: $ 375,000
    (Current town reserve funds are $1.9 million)

  2. Borrow $1,000,000 as a loan or bond $ 1,000,000

How much will it cost taxpayers? If the town borrows $1,000,000 as a bond, assuming an interest rate of 5.0% and amortizing the principal over 10 years, the peak year payment would be $147,000 in year one and the cumulative 10-year debt service payments would be $1,275,000. The peak debt service in year one, declining thereafter, would be equivalent to 0.15 mils. This would, of course, be added to the costs of other projects planned for the Town, including Education, that collectively were projected in February 2006 to grow the mil rate from 11.0 mils in 2005-6 to 14 or 15 mils by 2009-10. The additional annual taxes attributable to the Potter Farm Proposition that a taxpayer who owns a home assessed at $400,000 might expect to pay would be about $60 in the peak year of debt repayment.

The Board of Finance will develop a finance plan that will keep the tax impact of spending an additional $1,375,000 as low as possible.

Informational Meetings on the Potter Farm Proposition: Nov. 28, Town Hall, 7:30 p.m.; December 14, St. Andrew's Church, Marbledale, 7:30 p.m., Jan. 6, Town Hall, 10 a.m.

Town Meeting Vote on the Potter Farm Proposition: Date to be set for January 2007

Web page last updated: November 21, 2006