The Edgecomb Capital Improvement Committee will consider an alternative recreational use for the abandoned tennis courts on Cross Point Road near the former Edgecomb Eddy School.

The Edgecomb Board of Selectmen directed the committee on Sept. 22 to begin developing a community-based recreational project at the site.

The tennis courts were built on town-owned property in 1976 through a federal Land Water Fund Conservation grant.

The courts were abandoned by the town in 2002. The former school site was sold after the town built the new school at 157 Boothbay Road.

Now the state Department of Agriculture wants the town to develop an alternative recreational use for the federally funded project.

For the past year, state Supervisor of Outdoor Recreation Mick Rogers has urged the town to comply with the request. The department wants the town to replace the former tennis courts with a recreational project of equal or greater value.

Selectman Jack Sarmanian said the town needed to start developing an alternative use.

“We don’t have to replace the tennis courts,” Sarmanian said. “The town only has to propose an alternative recreational use like a picnic area. We need to do some exploration and research to find a project the whole community can support.”

The Capital Improvement Committee will consider alternative recreational uses and bring forth a proposal, according to Sarmanian.  So far, the state is only asking the town to develop a plan. No deadline has been imposed.

“I think the Capital Improvement Committee is the right place for this issue,” Sarmanian said. “Hopefully, they’ll come up with something the whole community supports. And possibly, the town could vote on it at the May town meeting.”

Other business

In other action, municipal leaders may also need to develop an alternative plan for a proposed land swap. The town has been in negotiations for more than 12 years to swap properties with the Boothbay Region Land Trust. Municipal officials want to trade a tax-acquired property for an adjacent one owned by the trust. The town wants the swap to connect the Schmid Land Trust Preserve with direct access to the McKay Road.

The deal was put on hold while the town worked on meeting two conditions. First, the town needed confirmation that the Internal Revenue Service no longer had a lien on the property. Second, the town is required to clean-up the property. The town has recently received confirmation there are no federal liens on the property.

And the town was considering surveying and cleaning up the  90-acre parcel known as the “Lallis property” to complete the second condition.

But another snag threatens to further delay the swap.

Municipal officials have believed for years a deal was in place to swap properties. But no records were found confirming a land swap agreement.

The only town records pertaining to the Land Trust date back to the 2006 town meeting. The town voted to sell two house lots on the land parcel known as the “Lallis” property.”

The voters also directed the selectmen to negotiate a conservation easement with the Land Trust linking the Schmid and Zak Land Preserves.

Since no record of a land swap is available, Capital Improvement Committee member Nort Fowler advised the selectmen to continue its efforts to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Land Trust.

Fowler cautioned that the town shouldn’t clean-up the property until it reached a formal understanding with the Land Trust and voters approved the deal.

The selectmen will meet next at 6 p.m.on Tuesday, Oct. 6 in the municipal building.