CHCS eyes new site in Bangor

BANGOR – Community Health and Counseling Services has approached the city about buying the former Naval Reserve Center site on Essex Street for the future home of Stillwater Academy, now located in Brewer. The building that once stood on the site has been demolished.

During a meeting this week with the City Council’s business and economic development committee, David April, CHCS director of administrative services, said the educational program has outgrown its current facility on Acme Road and the site isn’t large enough to accommodate an expansion. The school has been located at the site for about nine years, he said.

Stillwater Academy is a private, special-purpose school serving students, ages 5 to 20, who have a variety of disabilities, including emotional disabilities, autism, mental retardation and other development issues, according to documents CHCS submitted to the city.

The school is licensed as a day treatment program through both the Department of Education and Department of Mental Health. Its students come from Greater Bangor and from as far away as Milbridge.

CHCS decided to pursue the city-owned Essex Street parcel after an extensive search, he said. Other sites that were considered had drawbacks ranging from inadequate size to inappropriate zoning. If CHCS is able to strike a deal with the city, he said, it would like to break ground this fall. He anticipated a 10-month construction period.

According to April, the agency, its headquarters in Bangor, has developed a conceptual plan for the roughly 3-acre site that calls for the construction of a 10,000-square-foot building. In a memo to city officials, Weeks projected 35 students and 25 staff members at the proposed new site.

He said that the property abuts the back of Mary Snow School at 435 Broadway and is located in a government and institutional service district, in which schools are permitted. Much of the rest of the neighborhood is residential.

Though other parties have expressed interest in the parcel, those offers were made before the former naval center was torn down about 18 months ago, City Manager Edward Barrett said. Little interest has been expressed in the site since then.

In response to questions from city officials, April said that the school’s operating hours ran from 7:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., with classes from 7:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Monday through Friday during most of the calendar year. Student arrivals, he said, are staggered.

As a private nonprofit organization, the proposed school would be exempt from property taxes.

Representatives of the city and CHCS also met in executive session to discuss the options and terms, but no action was taken afterward.