LINCOLN -- The town got to buy the 78-acre Camp Meehan property after all.

Town Administrator Sue P. Sheppard said yesterday the town made a deal with Capital City Community Center Inc., of Providence, to buy the 78 acres on the North Providence line for $3.225 million. The agreement gives the town control over land it feared could be turned into housing and settles a lawsuit over the collapse of a previously negotiated deal.

"We're very happy," Sheppard said yesterday. The new price is $225,000 more than the $3 million that had been initially set this summer. Sheppard said the extra money would come from other open space funds that are available.

The acquisition gives the town ownership of 78 acres along Wenscott Reservoir, as well as 15 acres in North Providence. Sheppard said 25 acres are designated as open space and 38 acres are available for recreation uses, such as ball fields. The remaining 15 acres are under Wenscott Reservoir.

Sheppard said she wasn't sure what the town would do with the 15 acres in North Providence. She said Capital City wanted to get rid of all the land in one transaction, so the town had to buy it to get the Lincoln land. She said the town might sell it to North Providence or to a private developer. She noted that municipalities aren't exempt from property taxes, so the town will be paying North Providence $26,000 in real estate taxes on the land.

"We wondered about that piece," she said. "We do have options."

"I don't know what we'll do," said Sheppard, who is not running for reelection. "Right now we're just happy to have the land."

Capital City's Camp Meehan day camp will be unaffected by the deal, Sheppard said. Capital City Executive Director William R. Walter could not be reached for comment.

Though the new price was more than the original $3 million, Town Councilman Keith E. Macksoud said he believed that what the town got for the $225,000 more was worth it. Though the amount is more than the $3 million voters approved for the purchase, he said he was sure the higher price would have been endorsed by voters had it been on the ballot. And the town's lawsuit was not a sure thing, he added.

"I'm not trying to hang anybody," Macksoud said, "but we did sign a bad agreement. But we decided to work beyond that."

The property is a good fit for the town, Town Council President Elizabeth Robinson said, because it abuts property the town already owns to the west. The town is also looking to get the development rights to another abutting parcel, she said.

The town thought it had the land in June, when it had agreed to pay $3 million for the property. But the sales agreement stipulated that Capital City was selling the town 61.3 acres and if, after a final survey, the land was found to be more than 61.3 acres, the $3 million price would be increased in proportion to the larger size of the surveyed land.

A final survey show the property was actually 78 acres, 27.8 percent more than 61.3 acres, and Capital City invoked its rights under the agreement and sought a 27.8-percent increase in the price, to $3.8 million.

The town balked at that, saying the $3 million was understood. Capital City officials talked of finding another buyer and the town sued to enforce the original deal. Macksoud, whose district includes the Meehan property, said both sides agreed to mediation with Providence lawyer William A. Poore. The session with Poore, which involved him shuttling between separate rooms, produced the outlines of the eventual deal.

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