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ARTICLE 7 Project: Conservation Land Acquisition- 39 Highland Avenue CPA Category: Open Space Amount Requested: $3,560,000 Amount Recommended: $3,560,000 CPC Vote: (6-0) Project Description: This FY21 request for CPA funds is for the acquisition and preservation of approximately 4.48 acres of environmentally sensitive open space located at 39 Highland Avenue (Map 40, Lot 233) adjacent to existing conservation land within the Town of Lexington. The property is largely forested upland with a maple and oak canopy, with a fringe of wetlands abutting the parcel at the end of Sherburne Road acquired last year. The acquisition will add an additional 4'/z acres to the Town's inventory of conservation land and enlarge the wildlife corridor that currently stretches from Hayden Woods and Dunback Meadow south of Marrett Road up to the Upper Vine Brook- Cotton Farm north of Marrett Road, and would protect the headwaters of the Vine Brook, an important Lexington stream. Most important, it would preserve and make available to the public a large area of forested open space that would otherwise likely be the site of a six-lot residential development. The agreed purchase price for the parcel of land is $3,500,000. An additional $60,000 is requested in ancillary costs including legal, survey, land management and environmental assessment fees. Section 12 of the CPA statute requires that property acquired with CPA funds be bound by a permanent restriction. Part of the ancillary funds will be used to draft and record legal documentation,prepare a baseline mapping and documentation report, and pay a non-profit organization to hold, monitor, and enforce the required conservation restriction. Conservation restrictions, approved by the applicable municipality and the State Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and recorded with the Registry of Deeds, ensure that the protected land will remain open and undeveloped in perpetuity. Project Goals and Objectives: • To preserve 4'/2 acres of forested upland, expanding upon recently acquired valuable open space and providing an important link to adjacent conservation lands as well as to other large tracts of open space; • Add to existing conservation areas and improve greenway corridor connections; and • Provide for climate resiliency through the protection of forested upland and wetland buffer open space. Project Benefit: This request will permanently preserve and protect valuable open space adjacent to existing conservation land within the Town of Lexington. It will provide for protection of wildlife habitat, flood storage areas, wetland resource areas and provide for passive recreation. The acquisition