CUMBERLAND — The town’s 216-acre Rines Forest property off Range Road is adding nearly 30 acres.

John and Elaine Godsoe, who have lived in Cumberland for nearly 30 years, are giving the town more than 29 acres adjoining the Rines Forest. The Town Council will hold a public hearing on the gift Monday, Dec. 9, before voting whether to authorize Town Manager Bill Shane to execute a gift letter.

“It just seemed like the right thing to do,” Elaine Godsoe said Monday. “We weren’t using that part of the property at all, and so we decided to give it to the town.”

John Godsoe is a retired orthopedic surgeon. His wife helps the town as an election worker and is active with the golf association at the Val Halla Golf & Recreation Center, Shane said.

“It is a nice piece of property,” said the town manager, pointing out that the property has “a connectivity to one of our largest pieces of open space in town.”

The town purchased the Rines Forest in 2003 from the Rines family, and later created a conservation easement with the Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust, according to the land trust’s website.

Shane said he hopes to work with the land trust to put the new section of property, north of the current 216 acres, into an easement, too.

The regular portion of the Dec. 9 Town Council meeting will be held at Town Hall at 7 p.m.

Alex Lear can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.

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John and Elaine Godsoe are giving the town of Cumberland 29 acres (in yellow) that adjoin the town’s 216-acre Rines Forest parcel (pink).