SANDOWN - The town has purchased a 5.17-acre lot for $185,000, preserving another small piece of forest land.

The land, next to the old meeting house on Fremont Road, was purchased from developer Ryan Norman of Plaistow. Norman owns 14 acres in Sandown and split the land into three lots.

"He worked with us to come up with an arrangement to sell the lot next to the meeting house to the town," said Mark Traeger of the Sandown Conservation Commission.

According to Traeger, the idea is to preserve the little forest area that Sandown has.

"We don't have a lot in town," he said. "The idea is for 100 years from now, at least the side of the old meeting house will look like it did 200 years ago."

The land, which includes a pond and an old barn, can be used for a variety of things, including recreation and wildlife habitat, Traeger said.

The $185,000 for the purchase came from current use coffers. Current use is a program designed to preserve land by providing tax incentives to encourage landowners to keep their properties in current use (untouched). If someone decides to develop, improve, subdivide, sell or physically alter a property classified under current use, they may be subject to a current use change tax.

Around four years ago, the town voted to put 50 percent of the change tax into the conservation fund and two years later, upped that amount to 100 percent of the tax.

Last year, the commission expanded the town forest by 35 percent.

"We've purchased a few lots here in town," Traeger said.

He said the commission looks for landowners who are interested in donating property or granting a conservation easement.

"We're trying to make sure we have continuous pieces of open space available for wildlife," Traeger said. "We're trying to maximize what we have. In Southern New Hampshire, the only way to make sure land stays open is to buy that land or put a conservation easement on it."