Last month the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to advance Academy community center to referendum. It’s a big deal. The community center has been in the pipeline since the results of the Great Blue poll in 2018. What to do with Academy has been debated for much longer—since the school’s closing in 2004. There’s some process to get through, but townsfolk should be able to vote “Yes” or “No” on the community center in mid-February 2022.

There’s already been one public information session (Dec 9). A link to the video presentation can be found on the town website. Another presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. at Town Campus and via Zoom.

Save Academy will continue to advocate for the referendum because it saves a treasured building and five acres of town-owned parkland and reflects residents’ preferred path from the Great Blue poll: restoration and adaptive reuse of the school as a community center.

Other reasons to vote “Yes” at referendum: The community center will be a venue for programming, activities, and events (different from library and Senior Center meeting space), an amenity for all residents and a boon to our downtown commercial district.

It’ll cost money. Everything does. Capped bonding is $15.9 million, subject to potential for significant reduction based on grants and tax credits for the project. The estimated average cost to taxpayers over the life of the bond is $28 per $100,000 of assessed value. For many, this is less than $200 per year. Annual operating costs are estimated at $350,000, but the intent’s to make the center self-supporting by offsetting costs with revenues from leasing and licensing space.

I encourage your readers to search “ACADEMY–Save the Heart of Madison” on Facebook to learn more about the project and upcoming vote.

Kathryn L. Hunter

Madison