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Selectmen await other proposals for School Street property

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WILTON -Selectmen decided Tuesday evening to hear formal proposals for a town-owned property at 24 School Street, before continuing to examine a local family’s plan to create apartments.


The property at 24 School Street, in Wilton.

The town will accept written proposals until August 21, and will listen to short presentations at the Sept. 1 meeting. The decision came after Keith Swett, of East Dixfield, and his family presented a plan to convert the 1949-built Primary School building into residential apartments, after substantial remodeling. Swett is offering to purchase the building for $1, which would return the property to the town’s tax rolls.

“We’re looking at putting some substantial tax money into the town,” Swett said, adding that a functioning apartment building at that location had been tentatively appraised at roughly $1 million.

However, some residents living nearby to the school are against the idea, concerned about the impact of the project on their own neighborhood.

“We do not want an apartment building of any kind in our neighborhood,” Earlene Lamb, who lives nearby, said at the public hearing.

Swett has said he’s looking to create nine apartments in the 7,500 square foot school; four on each floor and another apartment which would utilize the principal’s office and some other space. He is interested in creating one-to-three bedroom apartments with amenities found in homes, such as bathtubs, dishwashers and ceiling fans.

Swett believes that the project would cost $200,000 to make the building usable again. This would include removing asbestos, lead and an external below-ground oil tank, and enlarging the driveway and parking lot so they will meet current state and local codes. External walls will also need to be replaced, as the wood nailed over the inside and outside of the windows created moisture traps which rotted out parts of the structure. A sprinkler system would also need to be installed.

After this was done, Swett has estimated that $300,000 would need to be spent to create the apartments. Actual expenditures, he said, could be lower than those estimates as the Swett family intends to do much of the work themselves.

Selectmen noted that Swett’s proposal is the only one the town had received since attempting to get rid of the project. While some members of the neighborhood suggested tearing the building down, perhaps to create a park or housing units, selectmen balked at the cost. While the building is costing the town several thousand dollars in maintenance, demolition would require steps such as asbestos abatement, unearthing an underground fuel tank and lead removal.

Swett is looking for some help from the town in applying for grants which require municipal entities to help fund dealing with some of these issues. However, if necessary, Swett said that the project can work without that assistance.

Selectmen indicated that they wanted an official request for proposals to take place, noting that the $1 price tag suggested by Swett was less than the last listed price for the property, $150,000.

“We had some interest a while back,” Selectman Russell Black said. “When it had a big price tag on it.”

Selectmen noted that more than the sale price would be considered before selecting a proposal, and that would-be buyers would have to show that they had the financial resources to complete their project. Selectmen will decide on Sept. 1 if another public hearing is necessary, or if they can proceed without one.

In other business, selectmen approved issuing a liquor license to Anthony Bradley, owner of Tony’s Restaurant on Route 2 & 4.

Police Chief Dennis Brown said he didn’t oppose issuing the license, but did note that the establishment had received seven complaints in the past year. This, Brown said, wasn’t bad compared to other communities, but was high compared to other local businesses that served alcohol. Brown also noted that his officers would be undergoing special training for policing in a bar-like environment, and would receive special permission from Bradley to enter the restaurant and ensure that people weren’t being served when highly intoxicated.

Selectman Irving Faunce, of Wilton, voted against approving the license, calling it a “bad situation.” Also in opposition was Resident Joseph Cerqueira. His daughter, Lisa Cerqueira, was killed in 2007 by a vehicle being operated by an intoxicated driver. That driver, Sarah Forbes, had been drinking earlier that day at The Black Fox, a bar which occupied the same building that Tony’s Restaurant is currently in.

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