Published: 8/16/2020 5:54:00 PM
WHATELY — Town officials plan to submit a request for information to help determine the next steps for the former Whately Center School.
The Select Board met with the Center School Visioning Committee last week to discuss its March report on the vacant school building near the intersection of Chestnut Plain Road and Christian Lane.
Members of the Center School Visioning Committee toured the site in November, historic information was compiled and an assessment was completed, according to committee Chair Mary Stuart. In January, the committee surveyed residents’ opinions on potential uses for the building.
“I think the committee did a very good job,” commented Select Board Chairman Frederick Orloski, who also serves on the Center School Visioning Committee. “We spent a lot of time on the survey. There were a lot of people who went out individually to get responses to the survey.”
The survey, which received 149 responses, was broken into three parts — an open-ended question that asked respondents what is missing in town; a second open-ended question that asked respondents to list three uses for the Center School; and finally, a close-ended question that asked respondents to choose three options for what the school could be used for.
For the final closed-ended question, some of the top choices for potential uses were a cafe or restaurant; makerspaces or arts/crafts spaces; or a community center for town use.
“About half of respondents also wanted to see more eateries (in the first open-ended question) … but did not as often mention those as ways to use the Center School,” said committee member Marissa Hashizume. “Given that ‘cafe or restaurant’ was the most popular option on the close-ended list, we think that this wasn’t because respondents didn’t want the Center School used that way, but that they couldn’t envision it used that way just yet.”
Of the options available to the town — demolition, selling to a private owner, owning and using the building while also renting to a private entity, and owning and entering into a long-term lease with a private entity — the Center School Visioning Committee recommended the last of the options.
Committee member Leslie Harris told the board that renting to a private entity would reduce the burden of maintenance and renovation costs, provide the town less administrative burden and offer better prospects for sustained tax revenue.
Following the presentation, Select Board member Joyce Palmer-Fortune said in a leasing situation, she would expect for the owner — in this case the town — to be responsible for maintenance costs.
“It seems like that assumption that if you lease to someone that they’re going to take care of the maintenance — I’m not sure how realistic that is,” she said. “Is there some reason we think that might work in this case?”
Committee members said that in long-term lease situations, the leasee often assumes more of the costs than in a typical renter’s situation, but many of those agreements would need to be worked out in the lease.
Select Board member Jonathan Edwards asked committee members and board members to look into market demand.
“We can want all we want, but if there’s nobody that wants to do all these things in Whately ...,” he said. “Where’s that information?”
Stuart said the committee suggests the town put out a request for information to find out what proposals might be made from people who are interested, and what they could offer.
“We thought the best way was to get people to come to us,” she said.
Edwards said he liked the idea of putting out a request for information as the next step.
“The viability of use is really, really important, as everyone knows,” he said. “Any number of ideas can come out, but if nobody wants to do it, nobody thinks they can make money in that building, then it was a wonderful idea, but what’s the point?”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 263. Twitter: @MaryEByrne
0 Response to "Whately Select Board considers next steps for old Center School - GazetteNET"
Post a Comment