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01/30/2017 11:00 PMThe Board of Selectmen (BOS) has officially appointed the firm Fitzgerald & Halliday, Inc. (FHI) the Academy School facilitator. With th firm was unanimously approved by the BOS on Jan. 26, public meetings on the future of the former school facility are expected to begin sometime in February.
The Academy School has been a hot button topic in town since the school was vacated more than a decade ago. The town had been working with Shoreline Arts Alliance (SAA) for three years to explore the idea of building a cultural arts center, but the SAA walked away from the project in July 2016, citing a lack of progress over recent months and a shift in business terms, leaving the town to come up with a new plan for the aging facility.
Over the past few months, town officials met with several firms to possibly run the meetings, which are expected to include a presentation on the history of the building and what studies the town has done to date. Planning & Economic Development Director Dave Anderson previously said the town feels FHI is best suited to run the meetings.
“They helped us with a grant application in the past, have done some transit-oriented development work for the South Central Regional Council of Governments, and are currently working with us on a project to develop better wayfinding signage throughout town,” he said. “We met with them along with two other firms, and the group felt they were the best fit.”
The current proposed scope of work for FHI includes an online survey, up to three stakeholder meetings, and at least two larger public meetings among other services for a total proposed facilitators expense of $14,976, according to Anderson.
While the facilitator was officially approved at the BOS meeting on Jan. 26, at the town meeting that followed, may residents asked First Selectman Tom Banisch questions about the future of the school and Banisch’s personal preference on the building.
Banisch said it is no secret he has been promoting the idea of having the building privately owned and developed. He said the town does not have the money to develop Academy School or even bring it back online with current cost estimates ranging anywhere from $5- to $12 million.
Banisch said he hopes the public meetings will bring in a lot of ideas, but he wants to start moving forward soon.
“It is costing us $800 a month to run electricity into a building where we don’t even turn the lights on,” he said. “It is things like that we have been doing for to long…I really think that Academy School is an opportunity. I think it has been a problem for a long time, but I think solving that problem can be a major contributor to the economic health of Madison.”
While many of Banisch’s comments about possible economic uses for the building were met with more questions, one comment drew applause from the crowd.
“What I do want to tell the people of this town is I think Academy School should be put on the tax rolls and I think it should be paying all of us back for carrying it all of these years,” he said.
Check www.madisonct.org for future Academy School meeting dates and times.