By Victor Tine
PLUM ISLAND — If this were the New York Daily News instead of the Newburyport Daily News, the headline on this story would read like this: "Feds to Newbury: Thanks but no thanks."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided last month not to go forward with the purchase of 5.4 acres of town-owned land adjacent to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.
While not as emphatic as then-President Gerald Ford's 1975 rejection of a bailout for New York, prompting the headline "Ford to City: Drop dead," the federal agency wrote to the Newbury Board of Selectmen that it decided not to buy the land, the address of which is 3 Temple Blvd. East.
"The service had anticipated that a potential acquisition could be part of a possible land exchange involving other service property. That situation has changed and the service is no longer suggesting a land exchange," realty officers William Porter and Walter Quist wrote to the town. "The service is unwilling at this time to pursue acquisition of the property without the possibility of an exchange, and has decided not to make an offer of outright purchase."
Former Selectmen Chairman Vincent Russo, who had advocated the sale of the property to add to the adjacent 4,662-acre refuge, said the Fish and Wildlife Service had instead suggested a swap, exchanging Newbury's land for the former refuge headquarters near Plum Island Point.
But the old headquarters parcel, including buildings, is in the neighboring city of Newburyport.
"I said, 'There's no way Newbury's going to go for that,'" Russo said.
He also said he understood that Newburyport was talking to the Fish and Wildlife Service about acquiring the headquarters property and he didn't want the town involved in the negotiations. The refuge moved into a new headquarters building on Plum Island Turnpike in 2003.
Parker River Refuge Manager Graham Taylor said the agency tried to put together "round robin" negotiations, "where everybody would walk away with something," but couldn't make it work.
Taylor said there are currently no active talks with Newburyport over the fate of the Plum Island Point property.
Russo said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials conducted an appraisal but "were not at liberty" to tell him what their estimate of the parcel's value was, only that it was "slightly" higher than the town's assessed valuation of $1.906 million.
Although Taylor said the Fish and Wildlife Service decided the acquisition "was not worth the cost," he confirmed that the agency could not publicly disclose its appraisal.
Russo has said in the past he believes the property is worth $5 million because of its size and location. He previously advocated selling the land with a deed restriction that would make it a single-family house lot.
The town's Alternative Energy Committee has eyed the same parcel for a test tower to gauge the location's feasibility as a wind power station.
The Fish and Wildlife Service first inquired about acquiring the property in April 2008.
A month later, voters at the 2008 Annual Town Meeting approved an article that would allow the Board of Selectmen to offer the parcel for sale to "governmental entities and nonprofit land conservation organizations."
Voters also approved an amendment proposed by island resident Scott Ackerly that would require Town Meeting authorization before any sale could actually be executed and would also prohibit the town from selling the beachfront and primary dune portions of the land.
Russo said the five-member Board of Selectmen would decide what, if anything, the town's next step should be.
