The Select Board has appointed a new committee to investigate what might be done with the Bromfield House when it is vacated next fall. The school district offices, currently located in the prominent white clapboard house with dark green shutters at 39 Mass. Ave., are scheduled to be relocated to the new elementary school building in October 2021.
The board voted unanimously at its Oct. 20 meeting to charge the Bromfield House Committee with researching both the value of and potential uses for the land and the entire property (house and land). It will also investigate the value of the house alone (for possible sale or relocation). Although the committee will look into uses for the entire property, all the Select Board members agreed they did not want the town to be saddled with another old surplus building.
The committee must also solicit public input, including at least two public information sessions. The committee will include one member each from the Select Board, School Committee, Bromfield Trust, and Historical Commission, as well as two citizens at large.
At Special Town Meeting last month, the Select Board asked the town to authorize the School Committee to transfer custody of the Bromfield House to the Select Board so the board could sell or otherwise dispose of the building or land as it saw fit. The article passed after it was amended to include the requirement that the Select Board present its recommended plan to Spring Town Meeting for voter approval.
The Select Board’s discussion of the Bromfield House Committee’s charge was heated at times. Chair Alice von Loesecke and members Rich Maiore and Lucy Wallace thought all options should be explored, including selling the entire property, with the land, while members Kara Minar and Stu Sklar were opposed to selling the land.
Minar said that in the past, the board had expressed a desire to keep that piece of land, which she called a “critical parcel.” She also pointed out that if the land is sold, the town would not have control over what happens there. Sklar said he didn’t see the point of selling the land for monetary gain, since the proceeds would likely go to the Bromfield Trust, not the town. But other members argued that it was important for the committee to consider all options so Town Meeting voters will know that all possibilities were investigated.
Recommendations from the committee are due back to the Select Board at its Feb. 23, 2021, meeting, in time to draft an article for Spring Town Meeting. So far, the members are Rich Maiore, representing the Select Board and SusanMary Redinger, from the School Committee. Residents who wish to serve as citizens at large on the committee may apply on the town website.
