Select Board Members Express Frustration over Firefly Vote

Members of the Seekonk Select Board expressed their frustrations over the Firefly properties vote at the November 10 Town Meeting. The warrant article proposed authorizing the board to put the properties up for sale. There were 20 yes votes, with 257 in opposition.

At the November 2024 Town Meeting, voters authorized the Select Board to purchase the “Firefly Golf Course” property located at 320 Fall River Avenue, along with 763 and 769 Arcade Avenue for $6.9 million. The properties, consisting of 55 acres, were owned by developer Charles Tapalian. 

The Firefly golf course shut down in 2019. The town of Seekonk bought the land to preserve it as open space and for potential future recreation. Some residents believe the property could be used for a new school building.

“People need to look at both sides,” said Chairperson Michelle Hines. “They think we’re trying to pull something over on them. We bought a piece of property because the town outcry was outrageous so we did something about it. Are we going to hold on to that property now and make it an animal sanctuary?”

Board member Michael Healy noted the intention of the warrant article was for the board to explore possibilities for the property. They would have sold it only if a buyer was interested.

“We can only bring things forward,” said Healy. “Hopefully people will have some faith in us. There’s really not much trust out there. I do think that the actual background information that was initially read. It explained the options of what we were looking to do. We had some flexibility. If the opportunity came up, we could at least entertain something. The ill-informed people of this community, they come and they just only hear what they want to hear and they don’t really understand the whole picture.”