Groton — Groton needs the cooperation of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to build a middle school on the property next to Robert E. Fitch High School, but it has not yet reached an agreement with the state.

Groton bought the land commonly referred to as the Merritt property with help from an outdoor recreation grant of about $200,000. The grant program was designed to save land for uses such as athletic fields and hiking trails, so the site next to Fitch High School is restricted to those uses.

If Groton now wants to build a middle school there, the town must offer the state a comparable property in exchange.

Making a deal with the state is essential for Groton because the proposed school construction cannot take place without it.

The School Facilities Initiative Task Force and the Groton Board of Education both approved a plan that calls for the middle school to be built on the Merritt property.

But Town Manager Mark Oefinger said Groton is making progress on an agreement, and one can be reached well after the November referendum.

"We're making some progress, which we are very happy about," he said Thursday.

Oefinger said he's frustrated that the issue keeps coming up because he believes it's being used as an excuse not to support the school project. The town and state don't need the agreement until Groton is actually ready to build, he said.

"I would love to have (an agreement), believe me. But I think there are some people who are like, 'We don't even have the land,'" Oefinger said. "But would we even want the land if we don't have approval by the voters to build the school?"

He told a town committee on Wednesday that the state has been playing "hard ball" with the town and that Groton might need help from legislators.

The director of the land acquisition division of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said Thursday he hopes to have an agreement with the town within a month.

The land exchanged "needs to be equal value, both monetary and recreational," said Graham Stevens, office director of constituent affairs and land management for DEEP. The process is moving along, he said.

To get permission to use the property, Groton must first show that it's looked at other options and needs the land.

The town has met this step, Stevens said. Now Groton is working on the second step: offering the state a suitable substitute property.

Groton and the state have discussed about a dozen properties, he said.

"We are getting very close. We've been working now for several months on selecting a conversion property," Stevens said.

But, Stevens said, his office has a lot to do — it also administers grants for recreation and open space and buys open space.

"Obviously, there's a significant amount of work in my small office and we're trying to address all of our priorities in a timely manner," Stevens said.

"At this point, the state and the town really just need to sit down and finalize our understanding of the conversion properties and next steps so we can all be on the same page," he added.

One possible swap for the Merritt property is a 20.6-acre parcel known as Boulder Run or Boulder Heights, off the end of Colver Avenue and recently acquired through tax foreclosure by the town. The land recently was appraised at $750,000, according to a June 9 letter from Oefinger to Stevens.

If the state accepts the site, the third step would be deciding if the land has the same monetary value as the Merritt property, Stevens said.

The Merritt property is valued at $458,000 based on an April 27 appraisal.

Richard J. Pasqualini Jr., a member of the Representative Town Meeting Finance Committee, suggested the town offer to pay back the money it used to help buy the Merritt property.

But Oefinger said the state wouldn't accept that. "They don't want a check," he said.

Oefinger said he also tried arguing that the Merritt property would provide additional athletic fields after the middle school is built. The state would not accept this, he said.

Stevens said accepting money in exchange for land would be an absolute last resort.

"The state's policy in dealing with conversations is repayment is the absolute last process that we would consider," he said. "The importance is continuing to provide that public benefit for the state dollars that were previously expended."

d.straszheim@theday.com