Dartmouth will give 10.2 acres of land to Hanover following a Tuesday vote by town residents to accept the exchange, according to Town Manager Julia Griffin. The land transfer is part of a two-decade old agreement between the town and Dartmouth to allow for the College's Grasse Road housing development. The land, located near Grasse Road, will be used for recreational fields or affordable housing, Griffin said.
When the town approved the first section of the Grasse Road development more than 20 years ago, the College set aside 3.2 acres to be used by Hanover as a playing field, Dartmouth's director of Real Estate, Paul Olsen, said.
"The subdivision was done in order to create a place for housing for faculty," Olsen said. "Housing is a typical recruitment issue, and Hanover housing is expensive -- the College has done this over the years to provide more affordable options for employees."
The 3.2 acres were not ideal for team sports because much of it was wetlands, Olsen said. In order to fully compensate the town, Dartmouth replaced the original 3.2 acres with an equivalent amount of land. In addition, the town also received another seven acres from Dartmouth, following a land exchange between the College and the Hanover Water Works Company.
The company, which is owned jointly by the town and the College, had a 14-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Grasse Road development, Olsen said. The College traded the water company land in exchange for the 14 acres next to the development. Dartmouth provided the seven acres to the town because the town, as a joint owner of the water company, is entitled to half of the exchange, Olsen explained.
Olsen said the College's real estate transactions were meant to provide the town with land it could really use.
"The town is definitely improving its position by doing this," he said.
The next step, Griffin said, is to determine how to develop the land. The town will begin this process in May 2009 by seeking a planning appropriation from Hanover's Land and Capital Improvement Fund.
Griffin said there is currently a significant need for a playing field because Dartmouth will eventually acquire the two baseball fields on Reservoir Road, currently owned by the town. This transaction stems from the "Three Party Agreement" between the College, the town and the Dresden school district. In the agreement, which Olsen said dates to 2002, the College gave the town 23 acres and $9 million to support the construction of a new middle school and the expansion of Hanover High School in exchange for the fields.
