Voters at Spring Town Meeting approved the use of just under $1.5 million of Community Preservation Fund money to purchase nearly 20 acres of land, improve Swifts Beach Road and assess the exterior of the Hammond School.

The Community Preservation fund is a pool of money which is collected through a surtax on property values over $100,000. It is overseen by the Community Preservation Committee and the fund currently has $2.3 million in it.

Town meeting was held Monday, April 28 at Wareham High School and while voters passed the allocation of funds to improve Swifts Beach Road and assess Hammond School without much contention, voters raised some concerns over the land purchase before ultimately approving it.

The purchase, proposed by the Wareham Land Trust, allocates $1.2 million to purchase a 19.37 acre piece of property called the River Walk Conservation area.

The conservation area is located on Cromesett Neck between the Weweantic and Wareham River and according to Wareham Land Trust Executive Director Alex Zollo, the total cost of the purchase is $1.325 million. She said the land trust will cover the remaining cost through grants that could reduce the town’s cost to $900,000.

Zollo explained the land should be conserved for both environmental and financial reasons.

“The town receives less than $50 annually for this land,” she said. “The protection of this property will ensure that there is no increased demand for costly town services such as fire, police and school associated with residential development.”

The taxes on the land are low because the land is protected under active forest management.

She added that because much of the land is in a flood zone, any houses that would be built there would need to be built on poles above the flood zone and have their own septic systems, which would likely fail in a storm.

“Ten of the 12 potential houselots are in a max flood zone putting residents and their added septic systems at risk,” she said.

Some of the benefits she highlighted include protecting a habitat for endangered species and protecting land salt marshes can migrate into, something she said is very important for coastal towns.

“Marshes absorb floodwaters, support biodiversity and store more than 10 times more carbon than our forests,” she said.

Treasurer of the Community Preservation Community Sandy Slavin raised some concerns over cost, saying there were other projects down the road the town could use the $1.2 million for such as improvements to the Indian Mountain Playground and an evaluation of the windows for Town Hall.

However, Community Preservation Community Chair Patrick Lester said there would be money for future projects due to the community preservation fund being replenished throughout the year.

“We estimate that the surcharge will generate $1.1 million in new funds on top of any balance that we have,” Lester said. “We will also receive a state match of an estimated $300,000 and we will get interest of roughly $100,000.”

Lester said he estimates there will be an estimated $3.59 million in the community preservation funds at the end of the year.

Voters also approved the allocation of $250,000 out of the community preservation fund to improve Swifts Beach Road by building a 6-foot wide porous walkway. A drop-off area would be maintained for vehicles to stop briefly but no new parking would be added.

The last community preservation fund spending item approved was to allocate $60,000 to assess the exterior of the Hammond School.

Town Administrator Derek Sullivan explained getting the exterior assessed is one step in a continued project of improving the building.

Town Meeting was not completed on Monday. More agenda items will be voted on Tuesday, April 29 at 7 p.m. at Wareham High School.