NORWAY — A Greenwood mountain is slated to become protected land this fall after a local land trust said this week that they’re negotiating the terms of a loan.
The Western Foothills Land Trust has revised its purchase-and-sale agreement with a landowner for Noyes Mountain, a 295-acre parcel in Greenwood overlooking Lake Pennesseewassee, also known as Norway Lake.
The revised agreement combines two contracts and extends the closing date to Oct. 31. The Land Trust was scheduled to close on a 235-acre parcel by July 31 but did not raise the money in time.
Lee Dassler, executive director of the land trust, said in an email this week that the trust will pay a nonrefundable $25,000 down payment in the coming days and $249,990 at closing. That figure includes a 1 percent interest penalty, she said.
The land trust will have two years to pay off the loan. The land is being sold by the Willard family.
From Route 118 in Norway, Noyes Mountain backdrops Lake Pennesseewassee and has inspired generations of painters and photographers. In 2014, the land came on the market and the land trust began raising money with the hope of retiring the existing logging roads and creating a network of trails for hikers, mountain bikers and skiers.
“Investing in the recreational potential of Noyes Mountain is local economic development and will augment the achievements of our Main Street, Norway, entrepreneurs,” Dassler said.
Hunting will be allowed, and to pay for taxes timber will be selectively harvested under a management plan.
Dassler said the mountain is important to the watershed of Lake Pennesseewassee, Mud Pond and Little Androscoggin Stream, and it is a significant wildlife habitat.
The Harvard Mine nestled within the property and owned separately will remain open to rock-hounding but will be closed to drilling and blasting.
Fundraising issues have slowed down the project’s initial timeline. In 2014, the land trust entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the mountain, giving them one year to meet the sellers’ $300,000 price, according to Sun Journal archives.
At the time, it was thought a $90,000 grant from the Land for Maine’s Future program for a separate, stalled project at Roberts Farm Preserve could be applied to Noyes Mountain, Dassler said.
When permission to shift the funding was denied, the land trust was given a one-year extension to come up with the funding, triggering a $7,000 penalty.
To date, the group has raised $142,000 through grants, loans and a crowdfunding campaign, including $78,000 from the Open Space Institute — $165,000 short of the price.
Part of the difficulty in securing outside funding is that programs funding conservation groups prioritize projects that protect watersheds, wetlands and bird habitats.
“Buying a mountain is trickier,” Dassler said.
ccrosby@sunjournal.com
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