PEABODY — City officials will have a better chance to buy open space for conservation, now that the governor has signed a special act amending Peabody's charter.

"When we saw a piece of open space we thought was attractive, we could not buy it," Community Preservation Committee Chairman Stewart Lazares said, explaining why the charter change was necessary. That's because the charter prevented the city from paying more than 25 percent over the average assessed value of a piece of property over a three year period.

"Nobody sells land at assessed value; they sell it at market price," Lazares said. "So we couldn't buy anything."
Skyrocketing property values made the situation even worse, said Community Development Director Jean Delios.
"When we started talking about the Cy Tenney land, we couldn't even come close to the purchase price because of the restriction," she said.

The Cy Tenney club owned a building and land next to a large city park. When it was sold, many critics, especially in the recreation community, questioned why the city didn't buy the property.

"There were pieces of land we wanted that developers just stepped in and took," Lazares said.
With their hands tied, members of the Community Preservation Committee were forced to pursue alternative strategies, such as negotiating for development rights at Tillie's Farm, rather than attempting an outright purchase.

The committee tried to put together an affordable housing project with Crowninshield Properties for an affordable building behind the Tannery 2 complex. Even with a letter from the committee supporting a $200,000 match, "the state couldn't come across with money for it so the project fell apart," Lazares said.

Changing the charter took more than six months, but the needed legislation was filed by Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry, approved by both the House and Senate and, earlier this month, signed by Gov. Mitt Romney.

"Now I've got my committee looking for projects we can actually do," Lazares said. "I think we'll see some exciting things happen this year."