Dunstable Board Creates Committee to Study Purchase of Town Common Parcel

DUNSTABLE -- March 9, 2026, Dunstable Select Board votes to study potential purchase of a five-acre parcel adjacent to the town common. The board voted unanimously Monday to form a five-member ad hoc committee to assess whether the town should acquire the Finchetti property at 476 Main Street, a Chapter 61 agricultural parcel whose owners have signaled interest in a town sale; a heritage market analysis placed the parcel's value between $310,000 and $350,000, with Community Preservation Act funds identified as the likely source. Most of the lot is constrained by wetlands, riverfront buffers, and flood plain, leaving an estimated one and a half acres of buildable upland, and no septic plan or engineering study exists. The board also appointed Michael Barry as a full-time Dunstable police officer, approved a $27,000 CPA-funded Town Hall HVAC contract, granted National Grid a utility easement at 108 Pleasant Street for T-Mobile infrastructure, and adopted a sustainable purchasing policy required for continued grant eligibility. Groton-Dunstable Regional School Committee Chair Lacey McCabe briefed the board on a Chapter 70 minimum-aid advocacy campaign, reporting roughly 120 letters collected toward a March 31 Ways and Means public hearing, already exceeding the district's full-year total from 2025.