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Town Council Recommends Pierson School Be Turned Into Affordable Housing; Senior Programming Space

At a meeting on Dec. 20, the Town Council unanimously voted to recommend the former Pierson School property be sold to developers HOPE Partnership Inc. and Xenolith Partners LLC for $500,000. The developers have proposed turning the former school into affordable housing with an eye toward senior citizens and space for senior programming needs.

The council entered into executive session at its Dec. 20 meeting to discuss a real estate matter. After nearly an hour, the council exited the session and announced the proposed plan. The action will need to be officially approved at a town meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.

The council also voted to refer the matter to the Planning and Zoning Commission for review. Per state law, the Town Council needs to make a referral to the Planning and Zoning Commission for their report on whether or not a possible real estate action complies with the Town’s Plan of Conservation and Development. By statute, the commission has 30 days to make its report.

In 2018, the town’s Board of Education voted to close the Pierson school at the end of the 2019 school year after a facility-needs study conducted by the school system found that closing the school was prudent in the face of declining enrollment and rising operational costs. The school housed the district’s fourth and fifth graders and had been open for 80 years at the time.

Following the closure of the school, there has been much speculation and debate about what should happen with the property. The Town Council had regularly discussed Pierson over the last two years, but much of the discussion has taken place in executive session meaning there was little that could be publicly stated until now.

Earlier this year, the town sent out a Request for Proposal to gauge interest in redeveloping the property. The town received three responses and spent the time since then evaluating the proposals.

This story will be updated with more detail, and a longer version will appear in next week’s Harbor News as well as on zip06.com