By KATY SAVAGE
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WALPOLE — Two days after a convenience store owner dropped plans to build a new store and gas station in town, residents organized to purchase the land themselves.
Residents Ray Boas and Chuck Shaw met with Paul Saba, owner of The Big Deal convenience stores, last Thursday morning. That following a two-hour public hearing attended by more than 100 people two days earlier.
The two made a verbal agreement to purchase the 10-acre parcel from Saba and D & C Transportation for $269,000, according to Boas.
“Now it’s fundraising time,” Boas said.
Boas, who publishes the Walpole Clarion, an online news source, is finishing paperwork to establish a nonprofit so he can start accepting donations to purchase the property.
“There is so much passion for that piece of property in town,” he said. “We would love to have everybody get involved with raising funds to enjoy the land forever.”
D & C Transportation purchased the land on Walker Road in September for $269,000. Saba planned to build a gas station with a 6,000 square-foot convenience store. The company proposed building eight filling stations with 28 parking spaces. There also would have been a drive-thru window that served food and coffee.
Residents at the public hearing earlier this month were concerned about potential traffic accidents, pollution and noise the project could cause.
Boas and Shaw were part of a group of about 10 people who started gathering in April, about a month after D & C submitted the proposal.
The group analyzed Walpole’s master plan, zoning regulations, environmental and aesthetic qualities and argued the project wasn’t a good fit with the town.
“I think there is enough passion about the land remaining open and rural to try to (purchase it) so we don’t have to go through this again,” said Shaw, who owns Walpole Veterinary Hospital on Walker Road, which is adjacent the parcel.
Saba, who has been in business for about 20 years, said he liked the parcel in Walpole because it was a highly trafficked area. He owns The Big Deal stores in Keene and Spofford and was looking to expand operations.
Saba withdrew his application out of respect for the town.
“For me, I couldn’t see myself opening a store if the people in town don’t want it,” he said.
Boas walked the property last week and took aerial photographs. He expects to start accepting donations in June.
Boas said the land would be gifted the land town with the intent that it be gifted to the Walpole Conservation Commission.
“Any additional funds (we raise) over the purchase price will go to the conservation commission,” he said.
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