A plan by Woodstock, and possibly Greenwood, to purchase property next to Route 26 on North Pond has fallen through because of a “paperwork issue,” Town Manager Vern Maxfield said Tuesday.

The town officials had said they had a purchase and sale agreement for $75,000 for a lot near the current boat access, which MDOT wants to close because it poses a traffic safety hazard.

The current access is the only public one on the pond, and without it the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife would stop stocking the pond with trout, town officials said.

The town had tentatively obtained a plan to make the nearby ‘Sumner lot’ work as access. But Maxfield said the town had not actually signed the purchase and sale agreement, and in the meantime the property has been sold to someone else.

The town’s Conservation Commission was scheduled to meet this week to discuss what to do next. Maxfield said he knows of no other potential access sites at this time. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Conservation has indicated it would provide some funds toward a site purchase, town officials have said.

A suggestion had been made to take out or raise Johnny’s Bridge in Greenwood to allow boat access, but Greenwood officials have shown little enthusiasm for that, and some expressed skepticism about even sharing in the cost with Woodstock to purchase another site.

Asked for comment on the loss of the Sumner lot, Woodstock CC member Jane Chandler said, “I am disappointed, as I thought the Sumner property was one of our better options for public access on North Pond. The Conservation Commission and the Community Lakes Association will continue to look for possibilities.”