The Town Real Estate Assessment Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Select Board consent to conveyance and merge a portion of the property at 3 Mass Court Avenue with the adjacent parcel at 7 Mass, while establishing a separate conforming lot on the remaining land.

The recommendation, made after presentation and discussion at the committee’s Zoom meeting, follows a plan that divides the current 3 Mass property into two lots. Arthur Reed, an attorney representing the current owner, described the plan as creating Lot 1, a 160,001-square-foot building lot that will conform to Lot 2 zoning, and Lot 2, a 48,627-square-foot undersized parcel that will be merged with the approximately 40,000-square-foot lot at 7 Mass. Reed said the result would leave the same number of buildable lots as exist today.

The committee’s review focused on deed restrictions tied to “yard sale” parcels that require Select Board consent for transfers. Tracy McDonald, staff to the committee, noted that such approvals do not commonly come before the committee and reminded members that the Planning Board had already endorsed the plan. Members discussed access and addressing: Lot 1 will be accessed from Pochek and the assessor will assign an address after conveyance, McDonald said.

Committee members asked for clarification of the parcels shown on the detailed plan and for a simple perimeter or sketch plan to make the final merged boundaries clearer for the town’s records. Lee Saperstein suggested a perimeter depiction to help town staff; Arthur Reed said he could ask the surveyor for a nonrecordable sketch plan if the owners agreed, and several members urged a lot-merger covenant be recorded so title searches would show the merger.

After discussion, Tom Baratta moved to approve the committee recommendation that the Select Board consent to the conveyance and merger described in the materials; Nat Lowell seconded. The committee then took a roll-call vote, with all members present voting aye.

The committee did not place limits or conditions on its recommendation beyond the standard recording and title considerations raised during discussion. Members explicitly noted the purpose of the review was to ensure the yard-sale deed provisions are honored and to confirm that no new buildable lots would be created by the conveyance and merger.

The matter will next appear before the Select Board for final consent as required by the deed provisions referenced during the committee meeting.