By Dawn De Busk 

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Local selectmen decided it would be nice to get an unfinished duplex back on the property tax roles. While the selectmen toyed with the idea of keeping the 50-plus acres surrounding the duplex, they decided to sell that, too. 

On Monday, Sept. 27, the Naples Board of Selectmen heard the details of tax-acquired property that the town would like to put into the hands of a bonafide taxpayer. 

In the end, the board put on the market both the duplex and a large lot.

Real Estate broker Anne Plummer Legere did the research of the building and land that was subdivided in 2006. The property is off Lambs Mill Road. There is an unfinished duplex with a well and septic that would be sellable to the right buyer.  

“Based on the comparable, to sell the duplex separately as is, between $135,000 and $140,999 because it is unfinished. It needs a kitchen and flooring,” PlummerLegere said. 

“What is left from less roads, less wetlands and what was sold is 54 acres. The rest of the lots [I would price between] $185,000 and $190,000. It might sound low, but roads aren’t all in,” she said, later adding that there is no road association so any future owner would need to arrange for plowing.  

“I don’t see a lot of survey pins. So somebody has got to do survey work,” she said.

“There is a lot of infrastructure that someone has got to do to buy it. Someone who is a builder or an excavator— that is the only one who is going to make money up there,” PlummerLegere said. “There is so much that has to be done.”

The board members discussed how to set a price on the lots. The bottom line is a price that would cover the amount of the back taxes that were never paid. 

“We would need the revenue for the sale of the duplex to cover the back taxes,” Naples Town Manager John Hawley said. 

“The duplex would take care of that,” Plummer Legere said.

“John [Hawley] and I have been collectively talking with the attorney Drummond & Drummond. He found a title company that would be willing to insure a lump sale. That would be good thing. No problem with getting a loan and who gets the title,” she said.

The board voted unanimously, 5-0, to list the duplex to sell for $150,000.

Selectman Ted Shane made a motion on the floor to keep the remaining 54 acres. After all, the town might have use for a sizable lot for expansion or for land conservation,  

Selectman Bob Caron II disagreed, saying the town shouldn’t be owning large lots plus this one isn’t as buildable. 

“It is on a sharp corner. It has wetlands. It has ledge. It is part of subdivision project,” he said.  

“Put it out there at higher price,” Caron suggested. “If the taxpayers can reap the money back that we are owed for back taxes, I would not be in favor of the town owning the property.”

Selectman Colin Brackett, who was in Virginia for his military job and attended the meeting via Zoom, favored preserving the land.  

“What if we kept that 54 aces and turned it into a trail system,” he said. 

Caron said the land would need to be improved, paths put in, for that type of use. Other members questioned who would maintain the land and enforce that people use it property — another cost to the town. 

Chairman Jim Grattelo asked fellow selectmen if the board should table it or plan a site walk.

“The value isn’t going to going up. You are personally better off to sell it,” Plummer Legere said. 

A motion to table it failed, 1-4. 

A motion to list the land for $100,000 squeaked by, 3-2, with Brackett and Shane opposing.