Town of Sewalls Point

COMMISSION MEETING AUGUST 27, 2024

The real estate broker gave an update on 7 Heritage Way, a vacant parcel, owned by the town. In summary, there have been no offers for 10 months. To most people that should indicate that the price is too high. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t care about market indications like the private sector does.

The only current commissioner with some real estate background is Barile, as a retired broker. The rest may have big opinions but unfortunately not much to back them up. Even though the broker, who said she has spent a considerable amount of time and money marketing the property, had attached recent sales to her presentation, the commission was quite content to keep the current list price.

Since they set the price because they wanted a net certain amount for use on another project, they have arbitrarily determined the list price. The broker was a bit inexperienced, or she would have known not to get involved with the government. In the meantime, as other properties are bought and sold, this one sits. The old maxim of Price, Price, Price is the guiding factor.

 You can see her presentation here 

There was a new ordinance about aggressive animals. It centered around what “menacing” means. Is a dog growing menacing? The discussion resulted in some minor changes. As always, “Chief Tina” was the voice of reason and was able to inject some common sense. The ordinance passed with some minor changes 5-0.

Then came the part of the meeting where the discussion of South Sewall’s Point Road came up. Grants, always a popular topic, were discussed. One resident once again threatened to un-elect everyone if her drainage issues are not fixed. In fairness, her property does get flooded when it rains but so do many others also.

She wants to just bring fill in, but Joe Capra, the town engineer, believes that will result in her neighbor being flooded. He has devised a method to alleviate the problem for her and other problems while the road work continues. That will cost about $400,000 and the commission voted to take it from a reserve account. It passed 5-0

The presentation and bidding for the larger South Sewall’s Point Road Phase 3 can be found here