AMHERST, N.Y. — The next step in the purchase of the 170+ acre site of the former Westwood Country Club was unanimously passed by the Amherst Town Council Monday.
But it was the assessed value of the property, and what the town plans to pay for it, that had several people question lawmakers Monday night.
"How do you justify you have a fiduciary responsibility [to] justify a price of $7,780,000 when it's contaminated?" one member of the public asked the town council.
Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa says the town conducted an assessment in 2019 and as recently as two months ago. The assessed value of the property was approximately $45,000 per acre, according to Kulpa.
"We're purchasing it at a higher value than its assessed at because the developers downgraded the valuation and primarily that's based on income," Kulpa said. "The valuation hasn't changed since 2019."
The town council was voting on resolutions to approve the purchase sale agreement with current Westwood owners, Mensch Capital Partners.
Additionally, according to Kulpa, the town is working with the NYSDEC to revoke the brownfield status of the property.
"We know that there are tee boxes and holes that have arsenic and some mercury in them from past fertilizers," Kulpa said.
Kulpa says that the DEC believes while portions of the ground are contaminated, they don't reach a level that would require a superfund cleanup. Additionally, with mother nature taking hold of the property since it has been unused, it would be more detrimental to the property to destroy a fresh preserve to remove soil.
"The reality is if we build in that site, we'll have to remove it the same as we would have to remove it anywhere where we build."