The final vote by the Board of Selectmen acting as Trustees for the Governor Stoughton property ended on a slightly confusing note. There were two motions recommending the Pulte proposal as being the most advantageous. Mr. Shields made an initial motion selecting Pulte’s proposal of 23 lots at purchase price of $5 million but Mr. Sweeney had an alternative motion which included Copeland as second most advantageous in event that the conditions set for acceptance of Pulte are not met. Copeland’s proposal would essentially leave the property as open green space at a purchase price of $1.75 million. In the end the Trustees voted unanimously for Mr. Sweeney’s motion. Now what?

The Pulte proposal contained three options. The Trustees voted for Plan C which “will adhere to the Milton Zoning Bylaws governing Residential A in which Property is located and will not require zoning relief.” They go on to say they will build a single-family community of 23 lots utilizing cluster zoning on a 30 acre parcel. Cluster zoning allows for housing units to be “clustered’ and thereby affords more open green space. Other key points include:

• maintaining a minimum of 100′ buffers from existing residential properties.
• access to development via Unquity Road.
• have the town maintain ownership of a 4 acre parcel containing current historic structures to be redeveloped/developed at some future point in time.
• Pulte has offered to remove structures if “Trustees determine these structures shall be removed.”

The next step is for the Trustees to come to agreement on a Purchase and Sale. Any agreement will need to be approved by the Attorney General’s office and Probate Court. If those conditions are not satisfied (ie negotiation of P&S, two approvals) then the Trustees would accept the Copeland bid. That proposal would need to go through the same process.

Should Pulte adhere to the terms they laid out in their proposal it is difficult to see anything getting in the way of their eventually presenting to the Planning Board. The cluster zoning which preserves open space, the allocation of 4 acres back to the town and the price tag of $5 million are on their face, compelling terms which the AG and Probate Court are likely to approve. The $5 million is consistent with what the Committee on the Governor Stoughton land recommended as a contribution to a fund to support the poor of Milton (which was intent of Governor Stoughton in leaving the wood lot to the town).

Unless one party or another seeks to insert onerous terms in the P&S this will likely show up on the Planning Board’s calendar. While Pulte notes in their proposal that they will not require “relief” from the Planning Board, they will need to file for a special permit for cluster zoning. And any development to subdivide the property requires that Pulte appear before the Planning Board under the Subdivision Control Act according to Emily Innes, Chairman of the Planning Board.