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12/03/2019 02:14 PMThe process by which the town will decide what to do with the Island Avenue School building is starting to take shape, as the Board of Selectmen (BOS) discussed various possibilities and timelines for a planned ad-hoc committee that would be charged with studying and recommending a way forward as Madison attempts to come to a timely resolution for the property’s fate.
According to the charge, the committee can examine “municipal use, sale, or lease of all or portion[s] of the building or land,” and are asked to “consider the financial impacts to the town including...potential costs, revenue opportunities, and overall economic benefits.”
Though there was only discussion at the Nov. 25 meeting, BOS members agreed to have an action item related to Island at their next meeting in December.
First Selectman Peggy Lyons said this citizens committee, will consist of six members according to the charge, would likely have a broad mandate and aim for a three- to six-month process before recommending next steps for Island.
“If they decide they want to do opinion polls or other things, that’s going to take time,” Lyons told The Source. “And it might require some funding. Is it reasonable to think that can happen in three to six months? Yes. But I think it’s also going to be driven more by the avenues they want to explore and how they want to manage the process.”
The town is currently leasing the school building to Our Lady of Mercy Preparatory Academy (OLMPA) on a single-year basis for $535,000, after closing Island at the end of the 2018-’19 school year as part of a larger reorganization process for the district.
OLMPA first sought a lease of Island Avenue School in 2018, soon after it was announced that Our Lady of Mercy School, the main Catholic K to 8 school serving Madison and Guilford since 1954, would close its 149 Neck Road school and merge with the St. Mary School in Branford. Several parents banded together to form OLMPA and, while unable at that point to lease the Island facility, operated the school from Madison and Guilford facilities.
The town approved leasing the school to OLMPA for one year with no renewal option at an October 2018 town meeting. OLMPA Chair John Picard has previously told The Source that the school intends to put in an offer to purchase the building.
Lyons discussed with The Source what she thought the process might look like, though she again emphasized that the decision on what to do with Island would be driven by public opinion and whatever new data or information the committee is able to put together.
“I think [the committee] is going to be getting feedback from the public about what the public feels is appropriate for these facilities and the land,” Lyons said.
Putting out a request for proposals (RFP) was discussed as an important part of the process. Limiting the scope of that RFP—whether the town accepts offers from developers of all kinds, or whether it would only look for a certain type of use for the building—is something that Lyons said would also be decided by the committee and what the public wants.
“The committee should be driving what the options are,” Lyons said.
The preliminary charge for the committee requires notice in advance of meetings and time for public comment. Lyons said she saw other processes like RFPs as being “supplemental” to the committee’s work instead of diverging on different paths.
Another consideration as the town moves forward is maintenance on the aging building. Board of Finance Chair Jean Fitzgerald told the BOS at the Nov. 25 meeting that issues that could cost money to address had been identified at Island, which she said will be part of any discussion about keeping or selling the building.
The timeline is important, not only because the town wants to find a timely solution but because OLMPA would like to know as soon as possible about the future of the building to determine whether it will be able to occupy the facility for the long term or if it will need to look for another location.
Because the current lease was approved explicitly for a single year with no option to renew, Lyons said the town would have to go through another town meeting process if they were to offer OLMPA any kind of extension as the ad-hoc committee explores long-term options for Island. Lyons said she was currently working on what a possible agreement with OLMPA might look like, and that she would provide an update of what the specifics of that will look at the next BOS meeting.