Eric Taussig: Some thoughts on why the Taylor property deal fall apart

To The Daily Sun,

Moultonborough residents may want to know what transpired whereby the “deal” to sell the Taylor property to Huggins Hospital – disclosed nine days prior to Town Meeting – fell apart. As best understood from available documents, this real estate transaction, announced to the public at the Board of Selectman’s (BOS) meeting of May 6, was formalized in a Purchase & Sale Agreement (P&S) on May 10.

As of the writing of this letter (May 17), two days after Town Meeting, draft minutes of neither the May 6 nor May 10 meetings have still not been publicly posted.

Normally when an offer to buy property is made, the buyer (Huggins) drafts a P&S agreement containing conditions. Here, the town reversed normal procedure and gave Huggins a “Letter of Intent” (LOI) signed by the chairman of the BOS describing the conditions of sale, not purchase. The BOS offered Huggins a “deal” that included conditions I suspect many voters at Town Meeting were unaware of (clause number quotes from the LOI follow):

“1. The building on the Property known as the Taylor House should be demolished and debris removed at the Hospital’s expense…within 18 months with receipt from the Town of any demolition or other permits…that may be required.”

“2. Any new facilities, structures or buildings constructed … shall be built consistent with the Village Center Overlay District; personal services…is a use…allowed by right with no restrictions on building square footage, no ZBA and no CUP required, just site plan review for an 8500-10000 sq ft building...”

“6. All terms, conditions and obligations…shall be agreed to in a written purchase and sale agreement within 7 days prior to the annual Town Meeting…scheduled for May 15, 2021;”

“7. Following conveyance from the Town …, the Hospital shall have 24 months to obtain all needed approvals… Should the Hospital not satisfy this deadline, the Property shall automatically revert back to the Town.”

While other paragraphs contain representations made by the town and conditions imposed on Huggins, none is relevant to the basic agreement. It was dated and signed on behalf of the town by the BOS chair on May 6, the date of the last regular BOS meeting, but not signed within the requisite time frame by Huggins.

The LOI provided that if Huggins chose not to develop within two years, the property would revert to the town, a very strange provision if the town really wanted to sell the property. It appears that this agreement was designed to have Huggins act as the town’s proxy to demolish the landmark Taylor house at their expense, and then return the vacant 5-acre property to the town.

On Friday an announcement was posted at 2 p.m. with this message from Huggins: “We would like to continue conversations regarding options if there is a need for expansion in the future…it is too soon for us to make any formal agreements regarding a purchase of property,” with the BOS request to table Article 15. Voters last Saturday agreed.

Eric Taussig

Moultonborough