Valley Independent Sentinel

Wanna Buy The Old LoPresti School?

by STAFF | Mar 4, 2013 8:58 pm

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Posted to: Seymour

Seymour Selectmen took a step two weeks ago toward disposing of one of the town’s old, inefficient buildings.

Selectmen on Tuesday (Feb. 19) voted unanimously to pay up to $3,000 for a West Haven firm to appraise the former Anna LoPresti School, with a view to eventually selling it.

But they want more information before deciding how to deal with some of its other real estate.

Frank Loda, a private citizen, videotaped the selectmen’s discussion. Click the play button to watch.

Last year the town charged a 12-member volunteer committee with making recommendations on how to deal with four town buildings:

• 1 First St., the town hall building, where most town government offices are located.

• 20 Pine St., the town’s community center, where the senior center and recreation departments are housed.

• 29 Maple St., Anna LoPresti School, which the town is closing to combine with Chatfield School.

• 98 Bank St., a town-owned property that houses the Board of Education offices and leases space to the Naugatuck Valley Health District.

The committee issued a report to Selectmen in December in which they outlined various options to reconfigure the town’s use of its space.

The article continues after the document, which contains the building committee’s presentation:

Seymour Building Review Committee Report by ValleyIndyDotOrg

Instead of going through with one of the suggested recommendations, selectmen asked First Selectman Kurt Miller to get more information about how much the buildings cost to maintain and what repairs are needed to bring them up to snuff.

Selectmen on Feb. 19 asked Miller to keep getting information on their options, including the feasibility of centralizing all its office space in a “government center” complex.

With the town’s current debt service obligations, such a reconfiguration seems unlikely at least in the near-term.

“I don’t see how we can take on another (building) project in this community without our mill rate going through the roof,” Selectman Al Bruno said.

But at the same time, the cost of maintaining the buildings as-is means officials have to do something.

“There’s issues around all these big buildings and it’s costing us a fortune,” Selectman Gary Bruce said.

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