McCoy: Taking Private Property Is For The Public Good

WILMINGTON, MA -- The following letter to the editor was submitted by Wilmington Selectman Michael McCoy.

More On This Story: Wilmington Selectmen Move To Explore Purchasing Sciarappa Farm

Dear Editor

I want to publicly thank Selectman Ed Loud and Selectman Kevin Caira for having the wisdom and foresight in supporting the article I presented in supporting the Town of Wilmington to support the purchase of Sciarappa Farm. This article will be presented as a special town meeting article prior to the annual town meeting of May 5, 2017 at the Wilmington High School Auditorium. It should take place around 9:30 as the Board of Selectmen voted to schedule this special town meeting prior to the beginning of the regular scheduled annual town meeting.

For years, the Town of Wilmington government leaders and its citizens talked about some day purchasing Sciarappa Farm. For many years, the town has given the Sciarappa Farm agricultural tax discounts because the property was used for farming. It would have been nice if we could have sat down and worked out a deal between the town and the Sciarappa Family but a deal was never reached. Relative to the size of the farm being 76 acres in which 62.5 acres are in Wilmington, this is one of the last big open space parcels left in Wilmington. There are so many things we could do with the property. Most importantly, we could use it for any municipal use; a public garden, open space, recreation, public picnic areas, educational programs for adults and kids, garden club, arts club, and Farmers Market. We could literally put up a freestanding building for an area to sell fresh grown produce grown from the property itself. The list is endless for what we could do.

In closing, no one wants their property taken by eminent domain. By taking this property, we are doing it for the public good as I demonstrated by mentioning all the reasons above. Throughout the years, the Sciarappa Family has shown interest in selling this property to the Town of Wilmington and as a town we've always showed interest in buying it, but it's never happened. Most recently the Sciarappa family has begun discussion with a developer. We're not looking to buy the property because of a rezoning; we're doing it for the public good.

Selectman Michael V. McCoy

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