This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

North Branford's Center School Set for Demo

The clock is winding down on a three-month period required to notify the North Branford public that Center School, built in 1920, will be demolished. The notification period expires February 18. Notice was posted on November 18, 2016, by the town's Building Department. The notification is part of a demolition permit request submitted by the company which won the bid to take down the building, Cherry Hill Construction of Branford.

"The building requires a 90-day notice because it's a historic structure, and that notice has been posted and is visible from the street," said Thomas Cowell, the Town's Building Official.

To date, no one has responded with an offer to either purchase the building (which would have to be moved off the site) or with objections on plans to take it down, Cowell said.

"They can object, but they'd need to show a reason why it can't be taken down," he said.

The demolition of Center School will be combined with taking down the 1979 brick building in front of the school. The brick building at 909 Foxon Road was constructed as the Town Hall and later used as the Community Center. Also included in the parcel is the former Wall Field, which adjoins Center School. The entire town-owned parcel, described as 1599 Foxon Road on the tax rolls, totals 5.95 acres in the heart of North Branford.

The plan to demolish the two empty town buildings is part of the town's plan to create clean slate of property at 1599 Foxon Road that's hoped to attract a town center-friendly developer.

The town's 2015 valuation of the entire six-acre parcel (improvements and land) totals $1,347,100 with an assessed value of $943,000.  The appraisal for the land alone is set at $459,700 with an assessment value of $321,000. Once the buildings come down, the Town Council would likely engage a professional broker to reassess the property value, said Town Manager Michael Paulhus.

Bringing a "town center" mixed-use development to the property has been an idea in the public realm for the past few years. The concept included a public charrette process in 2014. The charrette helped residents participate in sketching out a guide for a future developer to use when recreating the property, hopefully with a mix of commerce, residences, potential open space and welcoming and area-connective paths for both vehicle and foot traffic.

Paulhus said news that the former Center School is coming down should not come as a surprise to residents, as the topic has been part of Town Council and other public meeting discussions over the course of North Branford's lenghthy efforts consider best plans for the site.

"To be fair, we've talked about economic development, and the charrette process, and clearing the site," said Paulhus. "We did also talk about developers who might want to, if they are well-versed in historical tax credits, retain the building. The one and only group we had was CenterPlan."

In 2015, Middletown-based CenterPlan was positioned to potentially develop the property, but ultimately didn't pull the trigger on a property purchase.   Finding CenterPlan to be unresponsive, in early 2016, the Town Council dismissed the group from a "preferred developer" option that had been recommended town's Economic Development Commission.

The council later directed the town to instead open a bidding process to have the property cleared; with the hope that a clean parcel would be better positioned for other groups to consider developing as a town-center type of enclave.