Norton Island for sale.
According to Trulia, the island has not been developed and has an average listing price for $321,745. In the November Town Meeting, the town rejected an article to purchase the island for $149,900 in free cash to purchase the 9.17-acre property. Currently, members of the conservation commission want to keep the property from development, but regardless there is still a private island for sale in Norton.
Island purchase outvoted 106-108.
With over 200 Norton residents present at the annual Town Meeting, voters approved funds for the J. C. Solmonese Elementary School roof, Town Hall repairs, tax increment financing for Waste Management and voted down the purchase of Pheeny’s Island. Article 22 asked the town to spend $149,900 in free cash to purchase the 9.17-acre property known as Pheeny’s Island. The island is one of two that are not currently owned by the town. Businessman Kenneth Leavitt recently expressed interest in purchasing the island, and to build a ropes course there. Friends of Pheeny’s Island, a group dedicated to the conservation of the land, hoped to obtain the land and stop the business from being built there. The vote to acquire Pheeny’s Island by eminent …
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8:40 pm on Friday, November 2, 2012
Glad to see you committing to get involved by running for public office,continue to align all your actions with integrity and purpose and know that your doing the right thing, regardless of the outcome, keep your Spartan attitude. The very best to you, Ralph Stefanelli more ›
List of warrant articles for meeting.
UPDATE: Town Meeting originally scheduled for tonight, Oct. 29, has been postponed until Thursday, Nov. 1. The time and place will remain 7 p.m. at Norton Middle School. The Town Hall will also close at noon.
8:17 am on Monday, October 29, 2012
Town Meeting has been cancelled for tonight and rescheduled to Thursday Nov. 1. John Francis more ›
A vote to purchase the island proposed for a ropes course would cost town $149,900.
A group of residents called the Friends of Pheeny’s Island want Town Meeting voters to help them save a 6-acre privately owned island from becoming the site of what one called a “nature-faker amusement park.” The island, off the shore of the Norton Reservoir, could be destined to become a “zipline” ropes course, to be created by Connecticut based developer Kenneth Leavitt. An article on the warrant for the Monday night Town Meeting proposes the town take the island by eminent domain, and pay the owners the current asking price of $149,900. Leavitt and the owners have yet to sign a purchase and sale for the island, but the developer has spent significant money already laying out and designing the course, and also has spent many hours in …
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1:59 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Well Trot, get the folks there. It's not anyone's fault but their own if they don't show up for such an important topic. more ›
Bi-County Collaborative to also meet tonight.
Norton selectmen say town would be open to huge liability.
Selectmen unanimously refused to support a petition article within the Oct. 29 Norton Annual Town Meeting Thursday by a 5-0 vote, saying the request to raise and appropriate an unspecified amount of money to purchase Pheeny’s Island would result in a dangerous precedent for the town. The article, submitted by A. Brandt Henderson et al, proposes the town authorize the board of selectmen to acquire the island, the land owned by August M. and Manuel M. Ribiero, by purchase, gift, eminent domain, or otherwise. The 9.17-acre parcel has been the object of town-wide controversy since developer Kenneth Leavitt proposed creating an island ropes course and adventure camp on the island a year ago. The developer hired an engineering firm to lay out…
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6:41 pm on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
For the record I am not in favor of the rope course but non the less we shouldnt spend tax dollars to stop it. more ›
Letter to the editor by Herbert Ellison.
To the editor: During the October 29th Fall Town Meeting Norton voters will have a unique opportunity to complete a process started 26 years ago. In 1986 the Town of Norton purchased the Norton Reservoir from the Wading River Reservoir Corporation for the purpose of preventing the Reservoir from being drained and then developed for commercial use. The goal also was to restore it for regional recreational use for everybody. A vote for a citizen's petition to purchase Pheeny's Island will almost complete the protection of the Reservoir, a municipal treasure that secures open space, protects wildlife, and expands recreational opportunities. The 500+ acre Norton Reservoir was created in the 1860s by damming the Rumford River for fire …
Pheeny's Island adventure camp on the docket.
A notice of intent for a proposed ropes course will be discussed tonight at the Conservation Commission meeting to take place 7 p.m. at Town Hall. Scroll through the attached PDF to see what else is on the docket.
The Conservation Committee will meet tonight to go over the Pheeny's Island project and other items. Though the meeting will begin 7 p.m. at Town Hall, it will be moved to Norton Public Library at 8:30 p.m. to make room for a large crowd. The School Committee will start their 6 p.m. meeting off by interviewing a candidate for the interim superintendent position. Following that the high school building project and fiscal year 2012 budget will be discussed. To see what else is on the agenda at both meetings, scroll through the attached PDFs.
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Letter to the editor from Mike Masone.
Dear Editor, After reading Kenneth Leavitt’s condescendingly titled opinion piece I was left what apparently is an increasingly common impression of him. He thinks everyone but him is an ignorant bumpkin. His piece implies that after he works his magic on the Reservoir, Norton residents will have something that we can finally be proud of. This notion is insulting. Insulting because he implies that prior to his arrival The Reservoir was used as a combination dump/jet-ski park and that no one took any pride in her. Long time residents of town know that this simply isn’t true. 60 years ago The Norton Reservoir was known for great fishing and clean water. Fed by local rivers and underground springs it became a recreation …
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Bill Gouveia
10:33 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Town Meeting did not reject an article to purchase the island. It rejected an article to take the island by emminent domain. more ›