Mayor Bettencourt's Plan To Preserve 80 Acres Of Peabody Open Space Heads To City Council

PEABODY, MA — Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt outlined more details about the city's planned acquisition of 80 acres of open space near the borders with Salem and Lynn that he first announced at his mid-term inaugural address in January.

Bettencourt said the agreement, which he will present to the City Council on Thursday, will prevent the planned development of hundreds of housing units near Marlborough Road, will be paid for with a combination of Community Preservation funds, state grants, and proceeds from the recreation enterprise fund and represents the largest land acquisition by the city since Brooksby Farm nearly 50 years ago.

He said no funds from the city's general operating budget will be used in the purchase.

"This area of our city is already heavily developed and additional housing would severely impact traffic, tax our water and sewer system, and further stretch the already limited capacity of our classrooms," Bettencourt said in a video statement. "Instead, most of this land will be preserved as open space in perpetuity with an option to utilize some acreage to increase capacity at the golf course and cemetery."

Bettencourt said the relatively quiet neighborhood would be significantly impacted by the housing development and "is something I did not feel comfortable doing."

He said the key part of the purchase would be 40 acres of land behind Spring Pond targeted for development.

"I feel strongly that this is the right move for the city to purchase this property for the quality of life of our South Peabody residents — and really for the whole city," Bettencourt said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)