Land bank may keep St. George access

ST. GEORGE – A land bank intended to preserve open land, shorefront access and the character of this coastal community may be on the horizon.

At a recent selectmen’s meeting, Selectwoman Lee Cote proposed creating a St. George Land Bank fashioned after one established in 1983 by the island of Nantucket off Cape Cod.

The idea was well-received by other selectmen, who decided to turn the proposal over to the Conservation Committee to research and develop a plan. The Friends of St. George, also known as the Friends of Martinsville Beach, will help the committee educate the public about a land bank.

The committee will hold its first meeting at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, Chairwoman Mary Carey said Saturday. She said that state Rep. Christopher Rector, R-Thomaston, has researched state law on land banks for the town and provided the committee with his findings.

The reason the Legislature is involved is “because it involves fiddling with the transfer tax,” Carey said.

Rector said Sunday that he obtained a copy of a 1988 land bank bill for the group to review as a possible model. He had not had a chance to study the legislation, but said he is willing to do further research on land banks.

“I’m interested on [St. George’s] behalf and other communities to research what the options are of land banks and the implications,” Rector said.

St. George is not alone in facing the pressures of rising property valuations, he said, noting that all coastal communities and towns with waterfront parcels are in the same boat.

The deadline for presenting bills to the Legislature has passed, he said, so a bill cannot be filed until January 2005. If he were to sponsor a land bank bill, he is confident he could recruit co-sponsors.

In 1988, there was an attempt to enact legislation for land banks in Maine, Carey said. The bill passed in the House, but failed to gain support in the Senate, according to Cote.

“We have little public land and little coastal access – and high taxes,” Cote said in a Wednesday e-mail to the newspaper, “the same issues, I am sure, many coastal communities face, and it seems that the time has come to do something about it.”

The committee is just scratching the surface in researching how a land bank would work in St. George, but the Nantucket Islands Land Bank calls for a transfer tax from the buyer at the time of closing. That money goes toward land acquisitions by the town.

In Nantucket, most real estate transactions require a 2 percent transfer fee, based on the purchase price of the property, to be set aside for land conservation. Interfamily transactions and some other transactions are exempt, according to Cote’s outline presented to selectmen.

“In effect, if you want to buy or develop real estate, you must also pay to protect land from development,” she wrote. “In short, purchasers invest in the town to protect their investment.”

Carey did not yet know on Saturday what other types of real estate sales might be exempt from the land bank transfer tax.

According to Cote’s proposal, St. George’s 2002 property sales totaled $12,793,800, which would have generated $255,876 for a land bank if a 2 percent transfer tax were in place.

In its first six years, Nantucket’s land bank raised $22 million in income. The island’s municipal land holdings grew from 1.5 miles of public shoreline in 1982 to 2,209 acres of land today thanks to the land bank.

Today, Nantucket’s land bank has revenues from the transfer tax, interest earned on investments, proceeds from the issuance of land acquisition bonds and notes, and charitable contributions, according to Cote.

The revenues are managed by a commission of elected officers, who administer land acquisition and property management programs and retire debt issued for land acquisitions.

Carey indicated that a land bank would likely require some hired staff.

About a year ago, residents lost access to what they considered a public beach when some Martinsville property owners erected an electronic gate, blocking access to the waterfront.

A nonprofit group – Friends of Martinsville Beach – was formed to try to regain access. That group has a lawsuit against the property owners pending in court.

“The big advantage of this [land bank proposal] is it isn’t a new idea,” Friends member Anita Siegenthaler said Saturday. “It’s an idea that has been field-tested other places.”

The biggest stumbling block in trying to preserve land is funding, she said, adding that the land bank proposal is worthy of public discussion.