Twenty-five Town Meeting voters opposed the $500,000 purchase of the former Holy Ghost Grounds on Park Street though it ultimately passed with 70 voters in favor of acquiring the land.

The property, currently under YMCA ownership, abuts the area where the future bike path is proposed, and Selectman Jordan Collyer said it is “one of the largest contiguous parcels that is in a relatively central part of town.”

Resident Robert Saunders opposed the town’s purchase of the land because he said it would put the town further into debt.

Community Preservation funds will pay for $100,000 of the purchase price now and the remaining $400,000 will be borrowed, though that too will be paid back using Community Preservation monies generated from property taxes.

Saunders wanted to know why the YMCA didn’t donate the land to the town since it didn’t cost them anything.

Town Administrator Mike Gagne said the YMCA plans to use funds from the sale of the land to provide services across the South Coast and that it did not need to expand in Mattapoisett. He also said the land was assessed at around $900,000.

Resident Doug Schneider said the YMCA did purchase the land from the Holy Ghost Society, but also said it wasn’t a necessary purchase since there are many acres of open space already conserved in town.

“I tell my kids there are needs and there are wants. This is a want,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s the right thing to vote for.”

Collyer said there were many benefits to acquiring the land, including potentially adding ball fields and/or a recreation and senior center building.

“In the future we will need some sort of a recreational facility to help fit the recreational needs of the town.”

Residents voted 70 to 25 in favor of the land purchase. They also approved two other land purchases, one for about an acre of land on Church Street adjacent to the police station.

The town will purchase the land for $295,000 with the hopes of one day building a town hall and/or fire station.

The third land purchase OK’d by the town is to protect the drinking water supply. The total cost is $678,000 with $65,000 coming from Community Preservation funds and the same amount from Marion and Fairhaven, who also benefit from the Mattapoisett River Valley aquifer. A substantial $474,000 grant rounds out the remaining funds needed. The land will also be available for passive recreation.