Kelley Woodland Purchase and CR
Location: Sippewissett Road, Falmouth MA 02540
Applicant: Conservation Commission and The 300 Committee
Allocation: $90,000
Year/Article: November 2015, A25
In 2015 The 300 Committee was negotiating the acquisition of a .53-acre lot on Sippewissett Road for $235,000 plus $5,000 in engineering and appraisal costs. The sellers in turn were agreeing to donate the adjacent 2.6-acre parcel, predominantly wetland. For $85,000 of the funding for the purchase to be awarded by the Massachusetts Conservation Partnership, the Town had to hold a conservation restriction on the entire property. As a result, the Conservation Commission requested $90,000 from the CPFund to fund the purchase by the Town of this conservation restriction, valued at $200,000. Town Meeting appropriated $90,000 and The 300 Committee proceeded with its plans to obtain the property, drawing also on $65,000 in private donations from fifty-nine individuals.
This was an important acquisition because the land provides a key link between two existing conservation areas: the 387-acre Beebe Woods on the east and the 28-acre Flume Pond area (formally called the Shirley Barton Peterson and John Peterson Conservation Area) to the west, fronting on Buzzards Bay. The Kelly Woodland thus created a contiguous area of more than 500 acres of permanently protected open space for conservation, passive recreation, and wildlife habitat.