The Town Council is hoping to soon make progress on finding a new use for the abandoned Pierson School—with eventual public input—though the exact timeline remains up in the air.

During the Aug. 18 Town Council meeting, Chair Chris Aniskovich asked Town Manager Karl Kilduff for an update on the Pierson building. Kilduff said that the biggest hurdle regarding the property remains sorting out the title of the property, and that he hopes to have communication from co-property-owner The Morgan Trust by the end of August or the beginning of September.

After almost two years with limited updates, Kilduff told the Harbor News it now appears the town is on the right track to solving the title issue.

“[T]he town needs to resolve a legal matter which is at the heart of any change in use of the building. I believe we are now on a good course to resolve the matter. When this essential item is resolved, there will be an opportunity for a more robust discussion on the future of the site and the role it can play in the town’s future,” said Kilduff.

The issue is that the town actually owns only 37 percent of the school property, a percentage that doesn’t include the land under the building itself. The Morgan Fund trustees own the rest. Furthermore, a deed on the property related on the sale of the building from the trustees of The Morgan Fund to the Town of Clinton in 1953 states that the premises must always be used for the education interests of the residents.

The town has been pursuing cy pres action on the property, which would lift the deed restriction. Cy pres is a legal concept that allows courts to interpret the language of trust or wills if the intended original wishes cannot be carried out.

Kilduff told the council he asked the town’s engineer for a quote for an engineering study that could determine whether changes can be made to the building that would allow “the floor plan to be opened up a little bit more to allow for any flexible use.” Kilduff explained the study would help narrow down what uses could or could not be compatible with the building which makes redevelopment easier.

“It’s an educational cost for us to understand what our options are,” Kilduff said during the meeting. Kilduff said a quote for the study will be available in time for the next council meeting.

Kilduff said that other relevant documentation is being gathered that could assist with a request for development proposal, but he would first like more input from the council on what the members want to do with the building.

“I was trying to gather information that I believed would help the council in its decision-making process. The council has been aware of a standing legal matter to be resolved, which is the hurdle to making a decision on the future of the building. Once we get through that process, the next steps for the site can be taken,” Kilduff told the Harbor News.

The Abraham Pierson School was an integral piece of Clinton’s educational life for more than 80 years and most recently housed the town’s 4th- and 5th graders. The school closed its doors for good in 2019 after a facility needs study conducted by the school system found that closing the school was the prudent move in the face of declining enrollment and rising operational costs. The school closed in spring 2019 and control of the building was turned over from the Board of Education to the town.

Since then, the building, which sits in the heart of Clinton’s downtown, has been a tantalizing opportunity for redevelopment that has inspired significant speculation from residents on what the future of the building could and should be. However, redeveloping the building has not been a simple task.

The town found out about the deed restriction after the building closed, but then-first selectman Christine Goupil estimated the cy pres action wouldn’t take longer than 18 months. More than 25 months later, the action is still going on. The lack of obvious progress on the building has been a source of frustration for some residents.

The town convened a study committee in 2019 that helped survey residents for what they thought the next use for the school should be. Three prevailing ideas came out of the survey: Moving the Henry Carter Hull Library to the Pierson site, turning the building into a multi-generational and multi–use site, and using a portion of the building as a senior center.

Since 2019, the town has sporadically discussed Pierson but with the legal process on the property still playing out, there wasn’t much the council could say publicly. Many of the discussions the council has had have taken place during executive sessions, which the press and public are not allowed to witness. According to Aniskovich, earlier in 2021 the point of the executive sessions has been to talk about the legal process on the deed restrictions.

At the meeting on Aug. 18, Aniskovich reiterated that the public will get a chance to make its voice heard on the future of the building once the council has more direction.

“Obviously there’s going to be a lot of public involvement on this,” Aniskovich said. “At the end of the day, whatever happens at Pierson School should be for the benefit of the town—not this year, next year, five years from now, but for many years to come.”