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04/24/2019 08:45 AMThere will be no Academy question on the May budget referendum ballot, but the Board of Selectmen (BOS) wants to ensure work toward eventually bringing a question to the public continues. At a BOS meeting on April 22, the board discussed keeping the current Academy committee on for further investigation into the community center concept.
The board received a presentation on a community center model for Academy on April 8. The Ad-Hoc Academy School Community Center Design Committee, a committee charged with working in consultation with Colliers International, a local project management firm, to create a design proposal for a community center, develop a cost estimate, hold public input sessions, and recommend next steps for the design proposal, told the board that a community center is a feasible option for the Academy building at a cost of $14 million.
Leading up to that report, selectmen had been divided over when an Academy question would go to referendum. First Selectman Tom Banisch along with other Republican members of the BOS had been advocating for two referenda on Academy—one non-bonding question on the May budget ballot and then another bonding question down the road. Democratic BOS members strongly opposed having a May question, as did all members of the Board of Finance (BOF).
At a special meeting on April 10, facing mounting pressure from fellow board members and members of his own party, Banisch said that he was willing to drop the plan to put an Academy question on the May ballot. At the meeting on April 22, Selectman Al Goldberg again thanked Banisch for his decision and began the conversation around next steps.
“I thought, in line with your comments at the last meeting, that there is still some more information to be gathered,” he said. “My sense of the next step is to leave our committee in place and ask them to complete their assignment of gathering information.”
Banisch agreed and said he will have to check and see if all committee members would like to stay on. The committee had a sunset date of April 8, so Banisch said the committee charge would have to be amended with a new end date or timing goal.
Banisch said the committee would be asked to continue its work investigating cost details including alternative funding sources and operating costs. However, all selectmen appeared to agree that the committee’s focus should shift.
“The things that I think we want to have their involvement with is operating costs going forward and also the potential for grants or historic tax credits or anything like that,” he said. “From the perspective of operating costs I think we have a lot of people on staff who can help us with that.”
Selectman Bruce Wilson pointed out that knowing if the overall project cost could be reduced with tax credits or grants is more pressing than knowing the operating costs in terms of getting the project to a vote.
“From my perspective, I think the priority is the capital budgeting question,” he said. “The operating expense and the deadline for us having a fine point on that is much later in the budget year, but we will begin our capital discussions at the beginning of the fiscal year so July. I would recommend that we put a priority on the capital side inclusive of grants and other things.”
Selectmen agreed to see if committee members are still interested in continuing on and plan to discuss the amended committee charge at its next meeting in May.
How We Got Here
The Academy School building has been vacant for more than a decade and multiple administrations have struggled to find a popular solution for the building and its lot.
The parcel is 5.1 acres in the historic district and in the R-2 Residential Zone, which allows for single-family residential, municipal, educational, recreational, and religious uses. The building itself is 53,000 square feet with three floors, 16 classrooms, a gym, theater, kitchen, cafeteria, and music rooms. The building is also on the National Register of Historic places, which means there is a risk of litigation if the building is demolished.
Over the past decade, the town has formed numerous committees to try to determine what to make of the building. In 2018, plans to make Academy purely residential were quickly rebuked by the public. A committee was then formed to gauge feasibility and public interest in alternative options. By way of polling, the community showed strong support for a community center in the building. The BOS then formed a new design committee, the Ad-Hoc Academy School Community Center Design Committee, to flesh out design and cost options for a community center model.
The committee met with the Beach & Recreation Department to discuss having the department transfer offices to Academy and assume responsibility for the building if it were to become a community center. In addition, the Economic Development Commission, the town planner, the schools, Madison Youth & Family Services, the Arts Barn, Madison Senior Services, the Madison Art Society, the Madison Chamber of Commerce, and the Scranton Library have all approached the committee to discuss various space needs that could be solved with an Academy community center.
Committee Chair Bill Stableford previously said the work showed a community center to be a viable option.
“Our committee unanimously supports that the board adopts and supports the design...and budget proposal presented here,’ he said.
Stableford said the committee reached several conclusions beyond the community center feasibility; the committee’s work showed that there’s a large, unmet need for space in Madison and that a community center can be built in Academy within the $14 million budget initially pitched under a prior committee last year.
“The key phrase is our design is flexible to allow for multi-use spaces within the available design,” he said.