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Town of Windham Buys Chaffin Pond

March 13, 2011 - Windham- The town of Windham finalized its purchase of Chaffin Pond from the Portland Water District last Friday, and is now awaiting reimbursement from a North Windham business developer.


According to Town Manager Tony Plante, the town spent $385,500 from the town's parks and recreation department fund to purchase the 123-acre Chaffin Pond property situated behind Sherwin Williams on Route 302. The area will be used as a park.


Standish summer resident Martin Lippman owns three properties adjacent to Sherwin Williams - the old Sebago Gardens building, the former Dexter Shoe building that is now a hearing aid manufacturer and another parcel in between the two. Lippman signed a memorandum of understanding last week with the town promising to reimburse the full amount the town paid for the Chaffin Pond property.


In return, Lippman, according to his attorney Bruce McGlauflin of Petrucelli, Martin & Haddow law firm in Portland, will receive naming rights for the Chaffin Pond parcel that the town is planning to develop into a park. Lippman has expressed a desire to have the park named for his wife, Donna Beth Lippman, who is still living.


As part of the deal, Lippman will also receive 10 acres of the 123-acre parcel to use should he want to develop his three parcels fronting Route 302. According to McGlauflin, Lippman wouldn't be allowed to build on the 10-acre parcel, but he could use it for density calculations should he want to construct a large-scale project requiring a large septic system. The town would hold a conservation easement on the 10-acre parcel, barring development in perpetuity.


According to Lippman's real estate agent, broker Tom Noonan of Allied Real Estate in North Windham, Lippman signed the memorandum of understanding with the town on Thursday, March 3, a day before the town closed on the Chaffin Pond property. Noonan described the transaction as "progressing nicely" and said the 10 acres allows Lippman to "do something with his land." Noonan said the acreage would allow for construction of a larger septic system for possibly a hotel, which Noonan said Windham could use.


"It would be nice for patrons of a hotel, to step out on the back balcony and see the beauty of the outdoors, right in the heart of North Windham," Noonan said.
While the purchase was discussed several months ago by the Town Council, the Portland Water District had to first receive approval from the Maine Public Utilities Commission before going ahead with the sale. The PUC approved the sale Tuesday, March 1.


District spokeswoman Michelle Clements said last week that the district originally acquired the Chaffin Pond property in 1938 as a backup water source should Sebago Lake become contaminated. She added that the pond was never used. When North Windham was connected to the Sebago Lake Water Treatment Facility in Standish in 1999 the Chaffin Pond parcel the water district no longer needed the property, Clements said.


Plante said the contract between Lippman and the town should take several weeks to finalize and that the matter will then be taken up by the Town Council. After the purchase is finalized, discussions will begin as to how the town will develop the property.


"The Chaffin Pond property will be a centerpiece park in North Windham for the community. The actual shape it takes will be based on a public planning process we hope to begin this summer," Plante said.


While he's happy to have the extra acreage to help with density calculations should he want to develop a large-scale project on his three existing parcels, the idea of naming a park after his wife excites Lippman, who has a similar arrangement Ellenville, New Jersey where in 2007 he paid for a park to be built as well.


"We're thrilled to able to do this," Lippman said. "My wife and I both are ecstatic that it's coming to be a reality."


Lippman, who is in his late 70s, said it'll likely take several years for the project to mature but eventually he hopes to see fields where families can play games and enjoy picnic lunches, he said.


"I'm not sure what the final product will be, but either way, it's going to outlive me. Maybe they'll have a basketball court or a baseball diamond, something to that effect. These things have a way of sorting themselves out," Lippman said.


John Balentine, Keep Maine Current, March 2011



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