QUARRYING TO RESUME ON MT. TOM (5-8) -- WhitingStReservoir

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Date Posted: 07:43:59 06/03/02 Mon
Author: Robb
Subject: QUARRYING TO RESUME ON MT. TOM (5-8)

FROM: http://www.gazettenet.com/05082002/news/14297.htm

QUARRYING TO RESUME ON MOUNT TOM

By JUDSON BROWN, Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 8, 2002 -- HOLYOKE - After two years of negotiations, a deal to sell the former 374-acre Mount Tom Ski Area - including a 9-acre traprock quarry - to a group of buyers promoting preservation and recreation appears to be off.
Quarrying is expected to resume shortly, after a nearly two-year hiatus.
The owners of the land, Mary Rose O'Connell of Holyoke and Joseph J. O'Donnell of Belmont, have signed a five-year lease with an area firm to resume quarrying on the land, according to Northampton Realtor Patrick Goggins, who has been representing O'Connell.
The name of the firm has not been disclosed.
The sellers had to act immediately to preserve a key asset of the property - the valuable traprock - before a deadline 21 days from now after which the property would no longer be eligible to be "grandfathered" to permit quarrying to take place there, said Goggins.
The grandfathering option expires after the quarry is idle for two years, he said.
The preservation-minded buyers group included the state Department of Environmental Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Trustees of Reservations and the Boys and Girls Club of Holyoke, who together reportedly have committed $3 million to the purchase.
The sellers have negotiated in good faith and just last week signed a contract with the Fish and Wildlife Service, said Goggins.
Goggins said the deal became jeopardized when the sellers learned recently that the liability insurance the state required as a condition of sale would cost $45,000.
The state had required the coverage to protect itself against possible future costs relating to possible contamination of the property, said Goggins.
The sellers "were aghast" at the "exorbitant cost," said Goggins.
Goggins said O'Connell had negotiated "with good faith and patience," but at the same time is obliged to her stockholders and board "to protect the value of the property,."
"She is completely frustrated with the process," he said, "but felt she had no other option."
She has no interest in owning land for quarrying and now will seek to sell her share, he said.
State officials could not be reached this morning for comment.
A furor over the proposed expansion of the quarry from nine to 90 acres prompted government interest in buying the property, which adjoins an existing state park on the mountain.

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