by Thaddeus Flint
News that the former elementary school buildings in Grafton and Stephentown are being considered for future apartment buildings was heard at the May Berlin School Board meeting last Wednesday.
[private]The news of the interest in the properties was only briefly mentioned in passing by Board member Gina Goodermote.
Apparently the interested buyers are looking to make an offer on the Stephentown building first, but they are waiting for an asbestos report to be delivered. District Superintendent of Grounds and Buildings, Cyril Grant, who said he would get right on that. Goodermote mentioned that the company was thinking of using the buildings for apartments.
District Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Stephen Young confirmed that there was currently some interest in the buildings, but he cautioned that nothing is definite yet.
“We just found out about this at the meeting. Not sure there is a story yet, but we are excited that there is a potential buyer,” wrote Dr. Young in a May 26 email. Young added that he understood the interested party was working on a similar project at the old elementary school in Averill Park.
Sunrise Management & Consulting, Robert Bucher Architects and JPM Contractors are currently putting around $2.6 million into the old Sand Lake Elementary School in the Averill Park School District. with the goal of adding 31 loft style apartments to the community. It is unclear at this time whether the interested party is affiliated with that project.
The Stephentown School has been closed since June 2009 and Grafton since June 2010.
Board President Frank Zwack described the buildings back in 2012 as “a burden on the district.” Attempts to gift the properties to the Towns of Grafton and Stephentown failed when the Towns realized the extent of the financial burden the buildings would add to already strained budgets.
The Board would also like to get rid of the modular buildings that currently sit at Berlin Elementary School. Goodermote for one has been adamant that the buildings be gone sooner rather than later. “We’ve talked about this since last fall,” she said. Goodermote had hoped they would be out of there in time for the Fourth of July parade, although that looks like it will not happen. Zwack is also pressing for a timeline to have the buildings removed, describing them as a “hazard waiting to happen.”
There was some discussion of talking with the Town of Berlin about using the Town Highway Garage to house part of the School District’s maintenance operations. Grant however, said he thought that this idea wasn’t as simple as it seemed. The State Education Department might require the facility to be compliant if any State Aid were to be used in the building. Zwack said Grant’s concerns would be looked into and the idea discussed further at the June 4 roundtable meeting.
Also on the agenda for the upcoming roundtable meeting will be discussion on a possible Phase 3 of the buildings improvement project, as well as one day having the soccer field equipped with lighting. Dr. Young said that anyone in the community with thoughts or opinions on these projects is welcome to attend.
Dr Young also took the time to publicly thank Goodermote for her “many years of service” and countless hours of time” on the Berlin School Board. Goodermote’s Board seat will be taken over in July by retiring School Nurse Kellie Kaschak who garnered the largest number of votes in the May election.
Goodermote will be remembered by many in the District as being largely responsible for the successful rehabilitation of the Berlin Elementary School building. While serving as Board President in 2011, Goodermote saw the dissolution of the Leadership Advisory Committee which had been endlessly studying the future “footprint” of the District without ever arriving at any coherent decision. The Committee had become bogged down in committee, spending months discussing future plans for future surveys which nobody would ever really want to respond to. “I wanted to get this done,” said Goodermote at a surprise capital project presentation in September 2011, which not only surprised much of the public, but most of her fellow Board members at that time as well.
She got it done.
“Gina,” said Dr. Young, “has made Berlin Schools a better place.”[/private]