LONGMEADOW – The Department of Public Works (DPW) Facility Committee continues to narrow down its list of potential sites for a new facility. Some of the sites that remain on the table include the water tower property off of Frank Smith Road, Grande Meadows Tennis Club, and Laurel Park.

Town Manager Stephen Crane told Reminder Publications Laurel Park is also being examined by the Adult Center Building Committee as a site for a new adult center.

“Bliss Park and Laurel Park, even though Laurel Street runs through them, are originally the same parcel,” he added. “One of the challenges we have is doing the title work to find the path of ownership for that … We’ve had our assessor and our town counsel do some research at the Registry of Deeds and we have some reason to believe that the parcel … was an original land grant from the 1600s to the town, but we need to do a title examine to confirm that.”

He said both committees need that information as part of the site evaluation before moving forward with final site recommendations. That would take several weeks to be completed.

When asked if the site is protected under Article 97, Crane said the town is uncertain if it would apply to this location.

“The first threshold to cross is, ‘Is there deed reference to it or was it required for Article 97 purposes?’ And the next threshold is, ‘How is it being used?’” he explained.

Article 97 of the Massachusetts Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs protects open space land in communities from development. In order to develop an Article 97 designated site, the Park Board would need to unanimously agree to the development, Town Meeting would need to approve it by a two-thirds majority and the legislature would also need to approve it by a two-thirds majority.

Crane said both committees considered Wolf Swamp Field as a site, but ultimately removed it from its lists partly due to its Article 97 status.

“[The state] would certainly interpret something that’s actively used for ball fields and things like that to be subject to Article 97 even though it wasn’t originally acquired by Article 97,” he explained.

The committee would likely make a recommendation for the top site to the Select Board by the end of September, Crane said. After that, the Select Board would likely discuss its next steps for the project.

Crane said the project would likely cost $12 to $15 million.