Park friendly legislators, local officials, and conservation groups are backing a proposed law that would make it harder for the Legislature to surrender public conservation and recreation lands for development, allowing land exchanges only when there is "no feasible alternative."
Sparked by instances of special laws that swap protected public lands for replacement properties, the new law would not only raise the bar for these transfers but require state environmental regulators to review proposals before the Legislature can act on them. Land transfers have been approved in the past largely as courtesies to the legislator whose district includes the public land, backers say.
Supporters point to cases such as The Lantana transfer measure, in which legislators approved the transfer of 3.2 acres of land from the Blue Hills Reservation to the Randolph function hall in exchange for 3 acres of land of lesser environmental and economic value. Supported by town officials, Lantana owner Paul Hart offered to make up the difference in market value, and last fall declared his intent to move ahead with the plan for a new parking area on Blue Hills land that would be safer for customers than the function hall's current parking area.
But opponents said the Legislature approved the deal without an open review. The Lantana land swap shows that it's "far too easy for developers to work with legislators to obtain public land for private purposes," according to Tom Palmer, president of the Friends of the Blue Hills.
Land preservationists who support the bill, known as the Public Lands Preservation Act, also say transfers of public land out of the state and municipal park systems set a bad precedent.
"The important thing for public policy is many of our publicly owned lands were gifts to a town or the state," said Peg Wheeler, a land protection specialist for the Trustees of Reservations. "It really is a kind of betrayal of the donor's trust in the government if they get turned around and converted to some other needs."
Currently, the Legislature can approve taking public land out of public ownership in exchange for an equivalent parcel by a two-thirds vote in both houses. The proposed law would tighten those rules, saying park land can be removed from protected status only when "no feasible alternative" to accomplish an important purpose is available.
It would also require the exchange to include a parcel not only of equal size but of equal market value. The bill also calls on the state secretary of environmental affairs to develop guidelines for "conducting an alternatives analysis and identifying replacement land" in advance of legislative action.
While the bill does not have any opposition on record so far, many bills die in committee, said Phil Saunders of the Massachusetts Sierra Club's legislative action committee. The bill may run into opposition from representatives who fear their hands would be tied when a community in their district seeks to use park land for an important local project such as a school. Legally speaking, Saunders said, "the Legislature can't be bound." While the act would not prevent the Legislature from transferring park lands for other uses, it would set up a review process, potentially delaying the transfer. And legislators, Saunders said, might prefer the relatively freer hand they have now.
While The Lantana land swap is now undergoing a full state environmental review, Public Lands Preservation Act supporters said reviewing the proposal before the Legislature can act would be a major improvement.
While legislators may be reluctant to give up the right to use public land in their districts for important purposes, Wheeler said the bill protects that right. Under the bill, the Legislature can still approve transfers that meet the law's standards after a review by the environmental secretary. But transfer proponents have to make the case, Wheeler said, that the circumstances justifying taking public land out of protection are "truly exceptional."
Introduced by Senator Pamela Resor, an Acton Democrat, the bill was approved by the Senate last fall and is currently in the House Ways and Means Committee. Resor said the bill's passage is a priority for her in her last session in the Senate after 18 years in the Legislature. The bill, which affords protection to both state and municipally owned land, has 43 legislative cosponsors and has received support from the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions and state and regional environmental groups.
Representative Christine Canavan, a Democrat who represents parts of Brockton and West Bridgewater, said she is backing the bill to protect open space in her district. "I'm thinking of D.W. Field Park in Brockton, a lovely nature preserve up there," she said.
Canavan said she is looking for ways to slow the development of open space in Brockton: "I feel crowded in Brockton right now."
She said she is also supporting the Public Lands Preservation Act after recent cases of expanded use of eminent domain to acquire land for economic development. "It's a way to fight back," she said.
Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox@gmail.com.
