By Bob McGarry, Haddam First Selectman
(April 3, 2024) — We have a decision to make. What are we going to do with HES? There are three possibilities being discussed regarding how to use the former Haddam Elementary School. They are: continue the status quo or move the town offices there or a mix of public and private use. Let’s look at each possibility in more detail.
- Status Quo – We purchased HES in September 2019 when the school district declared it excess and put it on the market. Early in 2020 Adelbrook, a school for special needs children, approached us interested in renting or buying the building. They were planning to expand their service area. The pandemic put an end to that. We listed HES with a realtor but there’s been no interest. Currently some of the rooms are being used by the town and some local non-profit organizations for storage. HK Recreation Authority uses the gym and multi-purpose room for pickleball competition. Occasionally, there’s a special event there such as the Holiday Bazaar, a private event, or FBI and State Police training. All told, the building is largely underutilized and generates no income. However, it’s far from cost-free. Maintenance costs and labor have increased each year and average slightly over $100,000 per year. We spent over $400,000 on reroofing the oldest sections of the school and will need to spend that much or more on the remaining sections. Recent repairs to the water system cost over $6,000 and I’m hoping the 40+ year-old boilers have a few more years in them.
- Move the town offices into HES – Move all of the town offices except Public Works into HES. The Senior Center, Community Center and Resident State Troopers’ Office would also move. We hired an architectural firm, Antinozzi Associates, to conduct a Facility Assessment Study of the buildings we’re in now and of HES. The purpose of the assessment was threefold: 1) provide an overview of the conditions of the buildings, and 2) determine the space needs for our departments and 3) develop a potential renovation plan for the buildings. Their report is 286 pages so it’s hard to summarize in a few sentences, but I’ll try anyway. (I’m not going to address the Old Town Hall in my summary. Due to its historic value it’s a special case. We use it only for meeting space.) In general, the Town Office Building, Municipal Annex on Jail Hill Road, the Senior Center and Community Center are in acceptable physical condition. All have some maintenance issues and require minor updates to make them ADA-compliant, but none of them have major structural, heat/air conditioning/ventilation, electrical or plumbing issues. The Community Center requires more renovations than the other buildings do. From a space perspective the Town Office Building and Municipal Annex are adequate, but they could benefit from some additional space. The needs aren’t pressing and there’s room to add to those buildings if we decide to. The Senior Center is a different story. It needs more space for activities, meetings, and administration, but there’s no room on the property to add to the building. Parking is inadequate.
There’s more than enough room at HES for all the town departments, Senior Center, Community Center and State Troopers. HK Youth and Family Services and HK Recreation would also fit should they need to move. Antinozzi prepared two options. Option 1 moved the Senior Center, Community Center, Registrars and State Troopers into the old (saw-toothed) section of HES. The rest of the building would be available for other purposes. The estimated cost of this option is $9.5 million. Option 2 added the remaining town offices, HK Youth and Family Services, and HK Recreation to the rest of the building. The total estimated cost of having everything at HES is $32 million. I know these estimates seem high but keep in mind East Haddam renovated an old school for their municipal offices six years ago. The cost was around $15 million and that was at pre-pandemic construction costs.
- Public/Private Mixed Use – Move the Senior Center, Community Center, Registrars and State Troopers into the old (saw-toothed) section of HES, partner with a private developer to convert the rest of the building to affordable apartments for senior citizens. We applied to the state for a Community Challenge Grant to help fund this choice. We were awarded $4.55 million. We advertised for a developer and received three proposals. The proposals are on the HES page on our website. I sat on a selection panel with the Chair of our Economic Development Committee, a Board of Finance member, the Town Planner and the Zoning Enforcement Officer. The panel reviewed the proposals and interviewed the developers. Two proposals requested 30-year tax abatements. One of those wanted the town to pay a significant portion of the upgrade costs for the mechanical systems at HES; the other proposed demolishing part of HES and building a new building in the existing front parking lot for the apartments. The panel rejected both of these. The selection panel unanimously recommended the third proposal, which was submitted by Rak Realty. Rak didn’t ask for tax abatements or for us to pay any of the renovation costs. Instead, they offered to buy the building for $350,000, remodel the old section for the Senior Center, Community Center, Registrar and State Trooper offices and build 36 one- and two-bedroom apartments in the rest of the building. They would use private financing and the grant funds to pay the construction costs. We’d lease the public wing of HES for $10/square foot, approximately $144,000/year, and have an option to buy it for $1.00 after ten years. The rental cost would be offset by the property tax on the building, estimated at $100,000, and the maintenance costs we’ll no longer have. The public would have perpetual access to the grounds and recreational facilities. We would be able to build the Community Septic fields on the property.
My recommendation is Option 3: Public/Private Mixed Use. I understand the appeal of moving all the town offices to HES. The main advantages people cite for that choice are: it will bring activity and a sense of community to Higganum Center and it will allow for “One Stop Shopping” at the town offices. However, since the pandemic, the number of people conducting business in person at the Town Office Building (TOB) has decreased dramatically. It used to be that in May, June, and July the line of people waiting for the Town Clerk or Tax Collector stretched to the doors and even outside. That doesn’t happen anymore. Our behaviors have changed. More and more people are doing business with us online or by mail. Also, unless you have business at the TOB and either the Registrar and/or Social Services, you get One Stop Shopping now. I don’t believe it’s worth the multi-million-dollar cost to move out of functional buildings into HES. We have too many other pressing capital projects that need those funds. Keep in mind RSD17 is also looking at major capital costs.
In the end, the choice is yours, not mine. I intend to propose to the Board of Selectmen that we hold a referendum to decide this issue in the upcoming months.
