North 40 trails walk july 2014 The Town of Wellesley and Wellesley College have issued a joint statement regarding discussions by the school to sell the North 40 property and efforts by the town to be considered as a buyer.

Concerns have been raised by the town and Save the North 40 backers that Wellesley College’s timetable of getting a deal done by year end was too rushed (not nearly enough time, for example, to see if a conservancy can scrape together the funds to make a bid), and the College now seems to be agreeing. The Wellesley Board of Selectmen, meanwhile, has North 40 as a topic for its open and closed (executive session) agenda for Monday night at Town Hall.

Here’s the statement:

Working since last May, the Town of Wellesley and Wellesley College developed timelines for our respective processes regarding the future of the North 40. It was initially envisioned that decisions in this regard might be considered at a meeting of the College’s Board of Trustees and a Town of Wellesley Special Town Meeting, both of which were previously planned for the end of October.

With this goal in mind, the Town and the College have been working diligently and in good faith throughout the spring, summer and early fall. Discussion of the future of the North 40 has triggered a rich of potential ideas, and the Town’s proposal is one of those under consideration. Given the importance of the North 40 to our shared community, both the College and the Town recognize the need to allow further time to complete these important deliberations. Accordingly, the two parties have agreed to defer final decisions by the Trustees and Town Meeting until a later date. We are working collaboratively to develop a revised timetable and will provide more guidance on this shortly.