Town Meeting voted to spend $470,000 from the town's Community Preservation Fund for projects including roof repair at the Tremont Nail complex and the purchase of approximately 110 acres for open space and watershed protection in conjunction with the Wareham Fire District and The Nature Conservancy.

The Tremont Nail proposal, estimated to cost $245,000, was the most controversial. Debate concerned whether the expense was a temporary and ineffective "band-aid" or a expense necessary to protect the town's investment in the site, which was originally purchased for $1.2 million in 2004. Only one of the seven buildings on the site is currently used.

"Is this a $245,000 band-aid for the building, what is it going to cost to fix it?," asked Bill Heaney. "What's the long-term viability of structure, and why are we doing this if we have no apparent reason to keep it?"

Nancy Miller, chair of Community Preservation Committee (CPC) that manages the money, which is funded primarily by a surcharge on property taxes, responded that the current recommendation is to develop the site for adaptive reuse. As a town-owned property on the National Historic Register, the town is responsible for the building's upkeep. The committee enlisted the Menders, Torrey and Spencer, architecture firm to do a feasibility study on redevelopment, which suggested several scenarios including artist spaces, affordable housing, commercial restaurant space, and/or a combination of these options.

The study also recommended that the town fund the repairs, as stabilizing the building will make it more attractive to developers, "a halfway mark, an encouragement for any developer to come in and develop the site," as Miller described it.

Other questions raised during the debate included whether there were structural problems with the dam which backs up the Weweantic River and forms one wall of the building, how much fixing the dam, if needed, would cost, and whether that project and the money required for it could be funded through federal sources.

Municipal Maintenance Supervisor Mark Gifford and Miller said that the dam was not in danger of immediately failing, but confirmed estimates that repairs would cost between $1 million and $1.5 million. However, the dam and the building are separate and several speakers said that monies for one cannot be applied to the other.

In response to concerns about possible environmental contamination at the site, Miller said that one study had found no indication of contamination, and the site had once had to comply with federal safety regulations, but they couldn't definitively rule it out.

"It is an industrial site and has been an industrial site since 1813; there will be a certain level of contamination," Miller said. "Will it be a level of contamination that will prevent rehabilitation? It does not appear to be so."

The firm will be presenting their recommendations to the Board of Selectmen in the next month.

"We hope that it will be a developer that is going to decide, along with the town, what is the best use," Miller said.

Voters also allocated $155,000 to purchase 110 acres of land off Glen Charlie Road that will provide a buffer to a new well and pumping station to be built by the Wareham Fire District. The fire district provided $550,000 to purchase an adjacent 70-acres which includes the well site, and the Nature Conservancy and state conservation organizations are involved in providing additional funds for the 110-acre parcel.

The land is currently in bankruptcy, a fact that had sent an earlier proposal to purchase land surrounding Patterson's Brook to further study. Unlike this earlier proposal, however, where the land is jointly owned and only one party wants to sell, the property owner recommended the bill's passage on the floor.

"I would ask people to vote in favor of this," said property owner Brock Tucy. "I‘m trying to sell the campground [another parcel] so I can keep this...but I could lose it to an auction" and "a developer may buy it."

Other CPC allocations included $50,000 to purchase an affordable-housing restriction to be used on a redeveloped property to be determined, and $20,500 to repair the roof and place a preservation restriction on the American Legion Post #220 which was formerly the South Wareham Schoolhouse.

At the May 11 town meeting, voters devoted $50,000 to hire a consultant for a project to rehabilitate existing units and construct new units at Agawam Village.