“Happy is a funny word,” Second Warden Sven Risom told the Town Council on Monday night. First Warden Andre Boudreau had asked the councilors if they were happy with the newly renegotiated price for the Overlook property on West Side Road. Originally priced at $10.5 million, with the town footing $4.5 million of the bill, the town’s appraisal came back lower at $8.25 million. The Land Trust, itself originally on the hook for $4 million, had an appraisal done which came in at $8,745,000. The Block Island Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy agreed to put up the remaining $2 million of the original purchase price between them.
But with appraisals lower than the purchase price, re-negotiations were in order. Town Manager Maryanne Crawford explained to the council that a negotiation team made up of herself and Risom, along with Barbara MacMullan and Keith Lang of the Land Trust, had approached Overlook owner Steve Filippi about lowering the price. The Town Council had previously voted to cap the town’s contribution at $3.6 million, a proportional reduction from the town’s original $4.5 million pledge, based on the town’s lower appraisal. At that time, the purchasing parties agreed to lower the
