[D]ORSET — Dorset has concluded a “bargain” sale agreement with the purchase of 307 acres recently appraised at $1.88 million for $100,000, Town Manager Rob Gaiotti said Wednesday in a release.
The property is contiguous with the Owls Head Town Forest and is accessed from Route 30 via Raptor Lane. The town forest is home to a network of hiking trails and historic marble quarries.
The town closed on the property on June 21, acquiring the acreage by warranty deed from Dworkin & Shalam Partners LLC. The land’s owners, attorney Jeremy Dworkin of South Londonderry and John Shalam of New York City, previously subdivided the parcel in 2006.
“Dorset is grateful for the generosity of Mr. Dworkin and Mr. Shalam,” said Select Board Chairman Henry Chandler in the release. “This acquisition was a great opportunity for the community, and we’re happy to have made it happen.”
The contiguous Owls Head Town Forest was expanded by 260 acres in 2016, by buying land from Dworkin & Shalam Partners under a project funded through grants from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board and the U.S. Forest Service. The Dorset community also raised more than $200,000 to match the grants.
“We worked with the Conservation Commission and the town over the course of a few years to sell the lands to expand Owls Head Town Forest; that was a great experience, and we wanted to make a donation that would benefit the community for years to come,” Dworkin said.
It was unclear Wednesday whether acquisition of the 307 acres might affect a boundary dispute concerning access to Owls Head Trail that led to a suit being filed last year in Bennington Superior Court Civil Division by another property owner in the area.
William Burns contends the town seized a section of his land for access to the hiking trail, in violation of state law prohibiting the taking of private property for recreational purposes. He appealed the Select Board’s August 2017 decision to create a new section of trail to facilitate access to the town-owned Owls Head property.
The board, following a public hearing on the trail proposal, determined that land surveys done in connection with the town’s acquisition of 260 acres in 2016 for the town forest concluded that a disputed section of the traditional access trail does not cross Burns’ property.
The court appeal was filed last fall on behalf of Burns by attorney Sigismund Wysolmerski of Rutland.
Information on Owls Head Town Forest can be found on the town website.
