On Monday, June 15, 2026, trustees of the Acton Conservation Trust (ACT) presented the Town of Acton’s Select Board with an over-sized, symbolic check, representing ACT’s contribution towards the Town’s purchase of 46 Taylor Road in Acton, a property abutting the Acton Arboretum. ACT also presented the Select Board with two legal tender checks totaling $116,620. The second check for $3,000 represented an additional contribution received from a donor after the printing of an official bank check and ceremonial check pictured above.
46 Taylor Rd was slated for development after it went up for sale earlier this year, but the Town of Acton had the right of first refusal to match the offer. Bordered by the Acton Arboretum, with 65 acres of town conservation land containing accessible trails, meadows, woodlands, and extensive gardens, ACT described 46 Taylor Road as “the key to completing the Arboretum.”
After the Select Board approved an article for purchase of the land at the May 2026 Town Meeting, ACT collaborated with the Friends of the Arboretum and neighbors around 46 Taylor Road to raise awareness of the article. The combined group sent emails, made phone calls and posted fliers to encourage citizens to attend Acton’s Annual Town Meeting on May 5 and to make donations to the “Campaign to Complete the Arboretum” to help offset the $1.4M project cost. According to ACT President, Mitchell-Hardt, out of 376 voters participating in the vote, 351 voted to approve the Community Preservation Act (CPA) warrant articles 10 and 13, which authorized the Town to purchase the land at Acton’s Annual Town Meeting.
The gift of $116,620, from a combination of 103 donors, represents the largest of seven fundraising campaigns that ACT has conducted during the past ten years for conservation land purchases and well-exceeded the trust’s initial goal of $40,000. ACT’s initial goal was set based on a combination of the outcomes of prior fundraising efforts along with a short window of time between formal approval of the purchase and the closing of the sale. ACT president, Susan Mitchell-Hardt, emphasized during her brief remarks while presenting the check, “This is a clear reflection of how much the Arboretum means to everyone.”
The bulk of the purchase price was funded with Community Preservation (CP) Funds. The Community Preservation Act (CPA), under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44B, provides additional revenue to cities and towns to acquire and preserve open space, historic preservation, affordable housing and outdoor recreation. To participate and receive state funding, communities opt in to a local surcharge on property taxes to establish CP funds within their communities. This allows communities like Acton to make purchases of properties such as 46 Taylor Road without raising taxes or depleting other community funds and resources. The CPA was established in 2000 and adopted by Acton in 2002. Acton’s Community Preservation Committee receives proposals for funding and makes recommendations to the Select Board for inclusion in Town Meeting warrants. In Acton, the Open Space Committee has typically written proposals for acquiring open space, and since its inception, CP funds have been used to preserve 12 properties totaling more than 236 acres.
Leona Burgess, a board member for the Acton Conservation Trust (ACT) and an amateur wildlife photographer, is pursuing an MS in Biodiversity Conservation & Management. She is the Acton Exchange correspondent for ACT.
