By Steven Fletcher
Staff Writer
---- — City councilors last night shot down a $750,000 loan authorization for the purchase of the Brierneck Crossing site on Thatcher Road.
The loan was the linchpin in nonprofit Friends of Good Harbor’s proposal to orchestrate the sale of the 9.5-acre parcel and place it in the city’s hands. Councilors voted the loan authorization down five to four at the close of a public hearing Tuesday night.
While the nonprofit and neighborhood residents said the project would bring an end to the city’s four decades-long fight over the property, some councilors said the city shouldn’t buy another lot it can’t keep up. They said the non-profit hadn’t worked out who would restore the property after the city bought it it, either.
“I’m for open space …” said Council President Jackie Hardy, “ but we don’t maintain the open space that we have.”
For more coverage of this story, look to tomorrow’s print and online editions of the Gloucester Daily Times, and gloucestertimes.com.
Steven Fletcher can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or at sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenGDT
