July, 2008.
Several weeks of intense grant writing and preparation late last winter was rewarded this month. Orono Land Trust received $118,000 of the requested $170,000 for purchase of the Piney Knoll property near our Marsh Island Preserve.
The LMF board received many more requests than they had money to award, and successful grant recipients received partial funding.
This LMF grant keeps our hopes alive for purchasing approximately 20 acres of land from Mickey Schnieder, who has graciously agreed to sell the land to the OLT at a bargain price. The OLT has been hoping to protect the Piney Knoll land for decades, as it has been a favorite outdoor area for Town residents for many years.
We will need to raise an additional $52,000 to make up for the partial LMF grant funding. It is exciting to think that this valuable land is now within our reach. We will contact you later for fundraising help. Keep the Piney Knoll land in mind, and visit it yourself.
Link to Map (new smaller file)
Orono Land Trust will acquire the 19 acres of Mickey Schneider’s “Piney Knoll”
lot that is zoned as Forestry and Agriculture.
A longtime goal of members of the Orono Land Trust has been to secure and preserve the open space and trails on the land just to the east of and abutting our Marsh Island Preserve.
Mr. Mickey Schneider owns two parcels of land. One at the end of Marsh Lane and the other at the end of Colburn Drive. Looking at the accompanying map there appear to be three parcels involved because the Colburn Drive parcel is partly in the C-2 (Commercial Development Zone) and partly in the F&A zone (Forestry and Agriculture).
All of the Schneider land has access to sewer and water and road access. All of it could be developed.
The F&A parcel is known to have great ecological significance and important trail connections from the University to the Penobscot River and to the Crosby Street neighborhood. The open space and the trails serve not only a large concentration of neighbors but also residents from all parts of Orono and the University.
There is great emotional attachment to this piece of property. It has been used by the public for years through the generosity of Mr. Schneider.
Now Mr. Schneider plans to sell the two parcels he owns in the Commercial District (C-2) to Campus Crest for development This sale is not affected by anything that Orono Land Trust does.
The role of the land trust will be to facilitate the purchase and preservation of the F&A portion of the Schneider land known as Piney Knoll.
The result of this proposal will be a 30% increase in the contiguous open space preserve, the preservation of the trails and trail connections, no development on Piney Knoll and no future road through to Penobscot Street. We also will have an access road that we need to maintain our forestry plan and to mow our field.
The OLT is proposing to finance the purchase of Piney Knoll through