Dresden’s 540 Gardiner Road goes way back in Marilyn Schager Baker’s family. And now the past and future Dresden resident hopes the property will be part of the town’s future.

Next door to the town office, Baker’s acre could become parking, part of a septic system, and someday maybe room to expand the town office, officials said. At 6 p.m. Jan. 15 at Pownalborough Hall, voters are set to consider tapping surplus for $50,000 to buy the lot from Baker. According to Town Administrator Michael Henderson and Third Selectman Allan Moeller Sr., the town has been interested in buying the lot before, and owned it last year after another buyer didn’t pay the property taxes. 

Baker and officials said when she learned the lot was lost to back taxes, she paid them and owned the property once more. 

Moeller believes the time and Baker’s price are right for the town to buy it. Dresden has a prospective buyer on a Common Road lot for $50,000, he and Henderson said. They said the town has been trying to sell that one and the money could offset the $50,000 the town pays for Baker’s lot.

The town’s valuation on Baker’s property is $64,310, Henderson said. Buying it would take it off the tax rolls; 2019’s taxes were $1,209.03, he said.

In separate interviews, Moeller and Henderson said the town office could use more parking and a septic system so it could stop using a holding tank. Plus, both said having the land means room to expand, if the town ever decides to. The point is for the town to get the lot while it can, Moeller said.

Moeller and fellow selectmen Trudy Foss and Gerald Lilly signed the special town meeting warrant Dec. 26 and have set a public hearing for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7 at Pownalborough Hall. With Baker’s snow-covered lot at his back Friday, Henderson said he knew of no opposition to the proposed buy. He said the town vote doesn’t require the hearing, but selectmen wanted the hearing to help inform residents.

Baker lives in Ohio now. She told Wiscasset Newspaper in a phone interview and texts, her great grandmother Benicia Viola (Weeks) Woodward was raised in the Gardiner Road home, called the Booter House. “Booter (was) the affectionate name given to (Benicia’s mother) Katie Bickford Weeks by her nine grandchildren.”

Baker knows the town plans to clear the lot of the home and garage, and she is OK with it. “I was really very pleased they wanted (the lot). I just want it to have the best use for the town.”

She loves Dresden and plans to move back to town after her children finish college, she said.