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Adaptive Reuse of Academy

For the past several months Save Academy has been monitoring the work of the Ad Hoc Academy Building Guidance Committee (ABGC) and participating as needed. The primary task of the ABGC is to identify a handful of feasible options for adaptive reuse of Academy and bring them to public poll.

On Monday, Nov. 26, GreatBlue Research will launch a phone poll and online survey. It’s time to make our voices heard. If your readers receive a call from GreatBlue (860-740-4000), I encourage them to answer the phone and take the five-minute poll. For those who don’t get the call or prefer to go online, there will be a link on the town website home page www.madisonct.org where they can take the five-minute survey (same questions as phone poll).

Earlier this year the Board of Selectmen (BOS) presented proposals for the sale of Academy school and five acres of town-owned property for high-density development in our historic village district. Public outcry was immediate. We fought to re-open the process. The BOS listened and appointed the ABGC to explore a range of options and to gauge public interest in a solution that may be supported by most. On Wednesday, Nov. 14, the ABGC will hold two public information sessions: one at the Senior Center at 3 p.m. and the other at Polson Auditorium at 7 p.m. The presentations will include descriptions of the options and instructions for the poll and survey. I encourage your readers to attend. Although Save Academy will not be endorsing a particular choice, we are strongly advocating for residents to participate in the poll and survey. Our grassroots team is in this all the way to referendum.

Kathryn Hunter

Madison