Town Administrator Mike Sullivan said Medfield and the Trust for Public Land have negotiated a deal to purchase 34 acres of the 44-acre Cronin property for $3 million, placing a conservation restriction on the remaining 10 acres.

If the town does that, the McCombs family has agreed to donate a 22-acre conservation restriction on their property, Sullivan said. The purchase would be aided by a $500,000 state grant the town recently received to preserve drinking water supplies, cutting the taxpayer's burden in the purchase down to $2.5 million.

But, Sullivan said, that grant is contingent on having the purchase signed by June 30, so, if the warrant article for the purchase isn't approved at the election and then Town Meeting, "We might not have time to expend the funds," he said.

A portion of the Cronin property will also be reserved as a practice field for town sports, according to a release from the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and natural areas founded in 1972. Sullivan said there will be 1.5 acres set aside for the field.

Sam Bergeron, town assessor, said he assessed the Cronin property's 44 acres in two sections. The first, about 15 acres, including a home on the property, is valued at $1, 761,500.

"The bulk of the land is being assessed as recreational," Bergeron said, 25 acres at $481,600, which is about 25 percent of the market value.

Bergeron said there's no reason to expect that the Cronin property couldn't be sold to a developer, given its proximity to Dover and the surrounding neighborhood. "You're in a very prime neighborhood," Bergeron said, "I would tend to think that it will be very marketable."

Sullivan said the Cronin property is on School Street and Wight Street, between North Street and Harding Street. The McCombs property is just north of that, he said, on North Street. That property is adjacent to the State Hospital well field, a source of water for the town.

North of the McCombs property is the Norfolk Hunt Club, Sullivan said, owned by the Wardner Farm Trust. That land is classified as recreational under Chapter 61, Sullivan said, giving the town first right to purchase it if it is sold.

The Cronin property is owned by Michael and Barbara Cronin, Sullivan said. The McCombs property is owned by Joan V. McCombs.

The Trust for Public Land release states the 34-acre Cronin land is suitable for a minimum of 15 to 23 residential house lots and has been independently appraised at $3,170,000 and $3,175,000 by two Massachusetts-certified appraisers.

According to Nellie Aikenhead, Senior Project Manager at The Trust for Public Land, "This purchase is important to Medfield from many perspectives. First and foremost, it will help the Town to permanently protect one of its drinking water wells. In addition, the land contains an existing network of walking trails and a portion of the property will be reserved for a future playing field, which will help to relieve the pressure on Medfield's existing fields."

 Sullivan said The Trust for Public Land approached the town about the deal about eight months ago to see if there was any interest in acquiring the Cronin property.

Kim Gilman, Public Affairs Manager for The Trust for Public Land, said her organization was asked to look into the possibility of arranging to preserve the land by George Fiske of the Upper Charles Land Trust, which seeks to preserve undeveloped land in the area. She said his group is interested in preserving the Norfolk Hunt Club land and the land around it.

Regarding the negotiations that followed, "They're always complicated, and I wouldn't call tem easy," Gilman said, but the deal was possible thanks to the generosity of both the Cronin and McCombs families.

Dave LaFreniere, a local resident and president of Friends of Medfield Forest and Trails, said, "I hope that citizens recognize the comparatively small cost to protect these parcels of land as a sound investment, and vote accordingly. With the large expenditures our town faces related to the pressures of development and growth, we can't afford not to preserve some of our remaining open space. Funding the protection of the Cronin and McCombs properties will simultaneously preserve natural and historical aspects of the Town, protect our valuable water supply, and help slow the need for additional capital expenditures related to growth."