February 27, 2005

MORE Pillings pon, off Summer Street in Lynnfield, offers fishing and boating. Above right: 7 Thistle Lane, a six-bedroom, 3.5 bath, 8,400-square-foot home, is listed at $2.35 million. Above left: 2 Carpenter Road, a three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,923-square-foot home, is listed at $419,900. More: Miles from Boston: 15 Population: 11,542 Median house price: 494,900 (2004) Tax rate: $10.20 Transportation: Routes 1, 128, and 129 MCAS: Lynnfield's public school system ranked 30th out of 373 systems statewide, just behind Carlisle, according to a Boston Globe analysis of 2004 MCAS results. Census facts: Median family income is $91,869, compared to national rate of $50,046, and 49 percent held a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to national rate of 24 percent. Website: www.town.lynnfield.ma.us More community snapshots More community information RESOURCES For Sale: Homes | Condos | Open Houses For Rent: Apartments | Houses | Roommates Vacation rentals Place an ad: On Boston.com | In the Globe Commercial: Search listings for sale or rent

LYNNFIELD -- Everyone who lives here, even the wee ones still wearing knickers, is a duffer -- in a manner of speaking.

Concerned about preserving open space amid skyrocketing real estate values in a town with little land left to develop, residents are spending $12 million to buy the Lynnfield Center Golf Course, a 100-acre parcel on Summer Street, which includes 45 acres already zoned for residential development. Town Administrator William Gustus said the sale should close next month and that the town will keep the nine-hole facility operating for duffers (i.e., golfers) for about the next two years while residents decide what to do with their possession.

Gustus said the drive for the links was fueled by yet another investment residents made here -- the $65 million overhaul of the high-performing public school system. The high school and two elementary schools were renovated and a middle school was built, Gustus said, and real estate agents have been using both the system's performance and its upgrades as selling points.

''Lynnfield has become a very, very attractive place for families with children to locate to," said Gustus, adding that real estate values have doubled in the last two years.

The pupil count in the schools is increasing, he said, making it necessary for the town to search for ways to increase its industrial tax base in the bedroom community where 92 percent of the land is residential. One idea being explored is to rezone portions of Route 1 here from residential to commercial, he said.

On a recent week, Realtor.com listed 40 single-family homes, ranging from $419,900 for a three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,923-square-foot home to $2.35 million for a six-bedroom, 3½-bath, 8,400-square-foot home.

Town Clerk Pam Carakatsane moved here in 1993, has watched the changes underway, but said the town still holds onto its past, which includes the Old Meeting House on the town common, built in 1714.

''It's a quaint little town," she said.

JOHN ELLEMENT