Though there was much interest in the property from the Select Board, the Town of Westport has passed on an opportunity to purchase a 23-acre stretch of land on Drift Road that some believe could have helped ease the town's lack of available cemetery space.

The property, at 278 Drift Road, runs east to and provides limited access to a town-owned tract known as the gravel pit, which abuts the upper east branch of the Westport River and is used by the Highway Department and as a firing range for the police department.

It had for years been under protection of Massachusetts Chapter 61A, a conservation program that allows owners to reap tax savings in return for their pledge to keep the land open and free of development. When owners of 61A properties decide to sell, the town is given the right of first refusal to purchase, and has 120 days to raise funds and call in the right.

In this case, the 120-day window was not enough, and town administrator James Hartnett said the town would have to pass at the $330,000 sale price.

"It'd be a great parcel for the town to pick up but there's no funding source right now identified to buy it," Hartnett said. "I don't have any options at this point to buy it. It's one of those things we'd love to get, but I don't think we can do it at this point."

The gravel pit property had been identified years ago as a potential site for cemetery development, and select board member Brian Valcourt said that purchase could be "critical to our future" as it likely contains the same type of soil characteristics as the gravel pit and thus could help the town meet its cemetery needs — "We are desperately going to need more cemetery land."

The current owners provide the town access through the property to the gravel pit via a narrow easement, and Hartnett said that after speaking with the prospective buyer/developer, he believes that access will continue and would likely be improved, possibly making it easier for the town to develop cemetery space on the town-owned land at a future date.

Though he bemoaned the 120-day limit for the town to raise funds and exercise its right to buy as much too short, select board member Brian Valcourt said he was glad to hear that prospective developers/buyers would agree to improve the town's access through the site to the gravel pit.

"If it accomplishes that, then I'm for it," he said.

The Agricultural/Open Space Trust Fund Council had recommended that the town exercise its right of first refusal.