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03/17/2021 09:08 AMThis week, First Selectman Peggy Lyons presented more specifics and settled on a more concrete timeline for the use or sale of the Island Avenue property, leased to private K-8 Our Lady of Mercy Preparatory Academy (OLMPA) since 2019 but with the town still looking for a permanent solution that residents will support.
The consensus on the Board of Selectmen (BOS) appeared to favor a possible referendum for the sale of the property for 2022 rather than rushing to get it on a November 2021 ballot, which officials characterized as possible but rushed and potentially fraught due to strict deadlines for what is a potentially lengthy proposal process.
This timeline might also allow the town to incorporate a facilities study and follow-up “master plan,” according to Lyons.
The Ad-hoc Island Future Use Committee, a volunteer citizens committee, spent a little less than a year studying what might be feasible or advisable for the sale of Island, eventually recommending the property be sold either to a private school or residential developer early this year.
That group began drafting a request for proposals (RFP) with the hope that developers and schools might provide more clarity on the property’s value. The original intention was to push forward as quickly as possible to get an idea of who is interested in the property and their specific offers, with OLMPA already expressing the intention to bid to buy it outright.
But last week Lyons asked the BOS to consider easing off the gas in order to better assess the town’s needs, the preference of residents, and a currently “hot” real estate market
“The Island property is arguably one of the most sellable properties that the town owns,” Lyons said. “It has real development opportunities. We know we have a bidder interested in [OLMPA]. But we also know it’s feasible to develop, and it’s a practical property to develop...There’s so many factors around this decision.”
Madison residents will definitely need to weigh in, either through town meeting or referendum. Officials have repeatedly said over the last year that a referendum is the best way to allow townsfolk to make their voices heard. Lyons also cautioned the town potentially has four total referenda to juggle in the next year or so, including a $129 school renewal plan aimed for this fall, Academy, and an ongoing Charter Revision.
“I just want to highlight the fact that we’ve kind of assumed we would take this to referendum, but by doing that we do complicate the decision-making timeline,” she said. “It’s much easier to schedule a town meeting.”
Lyons described the quickest option—immediately putting out an RFP and aiming to sell the property by referendum this fall—as “a rifle shot that solves one problem,” and called it “a very tight timeline” and “unrealistic.”
“It doesn’t allow for all this other dialogue...about the facilities master plan and all the things the town is thinking, the bigger picture,” she said.
Another option would slow down the RFP and allow the town to assess the potential result of the school renewal plan (assuming that still happens in November) and potentially get a referendum question in 2022, possibly bundled with those other referendum questions. It would also allow the town to consider fitting Island into the facilities master plan as municipal space, though that would come at the cost of the significant revenue a sale of the property would almost certainly bring.
This timeline gives OLMPA surety to know what the decision will be—whether their upcoming bid to purchase the school will be accepted, or whether they will have to look for a new home, according to Lyons.
A third choice would leave the RFP process to the end of 2021 and essentially push off a decision on Island until the full completion and assessment of the facilities master plan, which Lyons said could theoretically take up to a year. It would also almost certainly require the town to negotiate another lease with OLMPA, as the current lease does not have a renewal option for another year.
“The school needs to know their future. We also risk that they don’t want to stay any longer,” Lyons said. “We’re kind of putting ourselves in a difficult position perhaps, with a tenant that is paying rent to the town.”
The consensus of the BOS leaned strongly toward the second option, aiming for a 2022 referendum. Selectman Bruce Wilson said he would appreciate giving potential developers more chances to “sweeten the pot” if they had a pitch, as well as at least begin assessing the facilities needs.
But he added the town should be cognizant of the “intangible value” that OLMPA brought to Madison.
“I think it’s important that we recognize that we’re not just focused on the money,” Wilson said.
Selectman Scott Murphy agreed, and added that he felt the community didn’t want to see the process go on forever and 2022 was a good balance, as well as the most fair timeline for OLMPA.
“We owe it to them to be fair and respectful giving that we have families going to a school,” he said. “We just need to be considerate and respectful to their situation.”
Selectman Al Goldberg said the process appeared thoughtful.
Selectman Erin Duques added that transparency would be the most helpful thing for both OLMPA and the town, and that “data-driven decisions” would be important.
Lyons said those data points could be fleshed out, aiming at assessing the conditions of the building and how much the town might have to invest if there was a desire or need to keep the property, or re-appraising its value based on a new market.
“That’s all going to cost money,” she said.
Lyons said the next step would be to come up with a specific cost for these assessments. The town also has to assess how or whether to hire a consultant, with local project management firm Colliers International already having been publicly, if somewhat informally, involved in the Island project.