A group of Blue Hill residents who are opposed to a plan to subdivide and develop 38 acres of local blueberry barrens overlooking Salt Pond have come up with a plan to purchase the property.
But it is not clear that the developer is on board with the idea.
Geoff Bowley, who owns the property and wants to convert it into nine house lots, submitted a proposal to the town last year, but Blue Hill’s Planning Board rejected his plan in April. A group of area residents called Save the Salt Pond Blueberry Barrens has opposed Bowley’s plans, citing the property’s scenic value and history of limited public access allowed by its previous owner.
While Maine has a housing shortage, the debate over the project has gone on for more than a year and highlighted the pushback that such proposals can face in Maine communities where residents see them as threatening cherished natural resources.
The opposition group has now come up with a proposal to purchase the property — something Bowley said he is willing to consider, though he has filed a court appeal of the Planning Board decision.
On Monday, the opposition group announced that it has worked out a plan with a foundation, which it declined to identify, and a local nonprofit called Blue Hill Community Development to acquire the property. The nonprofit development group said it has “reached a purchase agreement” with Bowley to purchase the parcel for $1.8 million, which is roughly twice the amount that Bowley paid for it in 2023.
The plan, the group said, is to donate the land to Blue Hill Heritage Trust, which then will conserve it.
Bowley on Monday declined to confirm or otherwise comment on the group’s plans to buy the land.
The parcel of land sits between Route 172 and Salt Pond, a tidal pond roughly four miles long that fills in from and drains into Blue Hill Bay. The property draws wildlife and fishermen along its shore, and its previous owner, a local blueberry grower, allowed hunters and landscape painters to access it, project opponents have said.
With the community nonprofit acting as the fiscal agent for the citizens’ group, the group’s next goal is to raise $1.8 million over the next 18 months to repay the interest-free loan being provided by the anonymous foundation. When the loan is repaid, the property will be given to Blue Hill Heritage Trust to own and manage as a public preserve.
“It is going to take all of us pitching in to get this over the finish line,” said Shelley Latham, a spokesperson for the citizen’s group. “We want everyone to feel ownership for this iconic landscape by contributing at whatever level they can. This campaign has always been about the community coming together to protect what it loves. That is why we have succeeded so far.”