Town Attorney Clarifies Boundaries of Ingleside Park and Old Middle School Properties

By Adam Swift

The potential construction of a new fire station at the old middle school site should not affect the town’s park and recreation land at Ingleside Park, according to Town Attorney Jim Cipolleta.

At last week’s town council meeting, Cipolleta addressed issues about the ownership of the middle school and park parcels and the potential impact of Article 97 on those parcels. 

Under state law, Article 97 establishes the right to a clean environment, including natural, scenic, historical and aesthetic qualities. It also declares the conservation of natural resources as a “public purpose” and provides that land or easements subject to Article 97 shall not be used for other purposes or disposed of without a two-thirds roll call vote of each branch of the state legislature. 

The Cummings family initially deeded all the property making up the middle school site in 1872, and two subsequent deeds recorded with the Suffolk Registry of Deeds about a decade later confirmed the conveyance of the land to the town.

“That was when the town of Winthrop had full possession and ownership of the middle school property, according to the title search and deeds,” said Cipolleta. “The Cummings property is south of the Ingles property. Ingleside Park is property donated by the Ingles family, and that property was donated to the town in 1902, 21 years after the town received by conveyance the middle school property.”

Cipolleta said he wanted to make it clear that the two properties do not overlap.

“They are not part of the same conveyance and not the same title,” he said. “They come from two different families and two different times and are used for two different purposes.”

Cipoletta noted that Article 97 would protect land that had been conveyed for purposes of recreation and conservation if it were stated in the conveyance.

“It doesn’t appear that when the donation of the Ingleside Park property was made that there was any special condition to be used for something,” Cipoletta said. “However, the town has seemed to adopt along the way, although no Town Meeting minutes were found to verify this, it can be argued that the Ingleside property, now consisting of Ingleside Park, was donated for parkland and the town has been using it for townland. That’s not so of the Cummings property, which was conveyed for what is now the middle school property.”

While Cipoletta said that the focus is now on the use of the middle school property as a potential site for a new fire station, he said if the town were to use the Ingles property for another use, it would require going before the state legislature for a vote if it was determined to fall under Article 97 by the town. However, if the town determined that the property did not fall under Article 97, the town council could vote to convey the land for a different use.

Town Council President Jim Letterie clarified that there are no current plans to use Ingleside Park for anything other than recreation purposes.