Selectmen mull future of School Street property

WILTON – Selectmen spent another meeting discussing the future of a piece of town-owned property on School Street Tuesday, receiving updates about demolition estimates, a neighborhood organization and another potential proposal.

The board unanimously voted to table discussion on the matter in light of several developments with the building at 24 School Street. Previously, selectmen had heard two proposals for the former school; to install a series of apartments and to create a privately-run special needs educational program.

Town Manager Rhonda Irish said that the residents of the School Street neighborhood had contacted her to inform the town they were starting a not-for-profit organization. Resident Richard Dupuis, who is on the School Street Neighborhood Association said that they were looking to help the town to find a final solution for the property.

“We’re still in the preliminary stages,” Dupuis told the board, “but at the suggestion of some of the selectmen, we’re looking at forming a not-for-profit group so we can maybe file for grants and help out the town with this building, should some these other plans fall through.”

The private school proposal, made by Rick Condon and Eric Rutberg, is dependent on grant funding to pay for the renovation of the building, which contains asbestos and requires substantial work to make it habitable. However, another local business owner came forward at Tuesday evening’s meeting to put forward a proposal.

Mike Wells, of W.S. Wells & Son out of Wilton, said that his company could use the building for storage, or potentially as a facility for the recycling of used vegetable oil into a fertilizer for crops. Those proposals may not require asbestos abatement, an expensive proposition.

“It’s a couple of options that the town and property would probably benefit from,” Wells said, adding he would submit a formal proposal in writing over the next few days.

Demolition, which several residents of the neighborhood favored, is likely beyond the finanical capacity of the town. Irish opened proposals for demolishing the building and removing the asbestos, with the cheapest plan coming in at slightly less than $50,000. While agreeing that the price was more than reasonable, selectmen also agreed that the cost went beyond the town’s budget.

“We don’t have the money in the budget to do this,” Selectman Thomas Saviello said.

Another option could be auctioning the property off, with Harris Auction Services answering Irish’s request for information about selling the building off through an auction. The town had previously, and unsuccessfully, utilized a realty company to try and sell the property.

“We still have two proposals on the table here,” Selectman Russell Black said, with the board tabling the discussion as new information became available.

In other business, selectmen were notified by Code Enforcement Officer Paul Montague that the town’s Comprehensive Plan was prepared for implementation. There is a list of 98 items, many of which are already ongoing, that need to be put into motion.

“The good news is that a lot of the items are underway right now,” Montague said, citing the changing shoreland zoning regulations and review of the town’s wastewater treatment plant as examples.

“These are the things that we’ll be doing for the next bunch of time,” he said.

“You, and the committee, spent a lot of time on this,” Saviello said, “and now we’re responsible to make sure we don’t let this fall off the table.”