A state plan that would have created a new public access point for anglers and kayakers on the Weweantic River has been abandoned after underground tanks were discovered on the site.

The plan, which would have added seven parking spaces at the property and a footpath allowing boaters to carry small craft to the river, was nixed in late May.

Officially located at 0 Marion Road, the privately owned property is on the right side of the road heading west, directly before the Wareham/Marion bridge. According to town officials, the owners were willing to sell the land at its appraised value.

According to Katie Gronendyke, press secretary for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, an inspection of the land uncovered the existence of an abandoned underground storage tank.

Gronendyke said if a site cleanup is required the seller must pay remediation costs before the state purchases any land under Massachusetts law.

“[The Division of Marine Fisheries] and the property owner were unable to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement on how to address this new circumstance, and as a result, [the Division of Marine Fisheries] has notified the owner that it will not exercise its option to purchase the property,” Gronendyke wrote in an email to Wareham Week.

In January, the state agency negotiated an option to buy the 2.6-acre parcel. Plans moved forward in early March when state and local officials, as well as area sportsmen, visited Selectmen to announce the deal.

Selectmen Chair Peter Teitelbaum said the access point would have been good for the town, but understood the state’s position.

“It’s very unfortunate,” said Teitelbaum. “But with the environmental concerns there’s not much the town can do at this point.”