March 28, 2024
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Study may decide school building’s fate

STONINGTON – The fate of the town’s former elementary school building is still undecided after a special town meeting held last week, and it will remain so until officials hear the results of a study on the need for housing for senior citizens.

By a 1-vote margin, voters at the town meeting rejected a proposal to move town offices from Main Street to the school building.

By a wide margin, they also opposed selling the building outright.

Voters did, however, authorize selectmen to spend $5,000 on a study to determine the need in Stonington for affordable housing for senior citizens, and they may be willing to consider using the building for that type of project.

The prospect of using the building for housing had been raised occasionally since the building was turned over to the town more than a year ago, according to Town Manager Richard Avery.

The idea gained some credibility within the last month after a study group on use of the building met with representatives from the Maine State Housing Authority and a developer who specializes in converting buildings for housing, Avery said.

“They both told the committee that the building was in pretty good shape, and suggested the possibility of authorizing tax credit funding to convert it into 12 [residential] units,” he said. “They see it as being feasible.”

Such a project likely would involve no cost to the town other than turning the building over to a nonprofit agency that would work with a developer to convert and market the new housing units. Once the project was completed, the building could generate between $10,000 and $20,000 in property taxes annually, Avery said.

The needs study would be the first step in that process, he said, and could be completed within two months.

Although the island already has two affordable housing projects – one in Deer Isle and one in Stonington – there is a perceived need for additional affordable housing for senior citizens.

“Much of that has been anecdotal,” Avery said. “A person moves out of their home and says they would have preferred to stay in Stonington rather than move somewhere else. I don’t know how a study tries to quantify that.”

There are a couple of companies which specialize in conducting this type of study, he said, and the town’s study committee has been in touch with them.

The call for the study, however, does not mean that town voters have embraced that option for the school building. Also at the special town meeting, residents asked town officials for more specific information on the costs involved in other options for the building, including renovating the school building for town office use and upgrading the existing town office building on Main Street.

It will be difficult to develop specific numbers, Avery said, because there are a number of different scenarios involved in each building.

“I think it’s going to be hard to come up with figures that can be compared to each other,” he said.

Ultimately, he said, the decision on whether to move the town offices will be based on factors other than money. Some residents feel that having the town offices on Main Street brings a certain amount of life to the area even during the winter. If the town offices are moved, they say, it will give little reason for people to come to Main Street anymore.

On the other hand, Avery said, some people are fed up with the limited access to the town office at the present location and would welcome a move to the school building, which offers more space inside the building and adequate parking outside.


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