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03/23/2022 09:20 AMThe Town Council took a step toward clearing one of the hurdles preventing the redevelopment of the Abraham Pierson School when it unanimously agreed to pay the Morgan Trust $75,670 to remove the deed restrictions on the property. The action still needs to approval of the state, however.
The Pierson School, which has been vacant for almost three years, is a tantalizing development opportunity right in the heart of Clinton. Finding a use for the property has been a much-discussed prospect since its closing was announced, but redeveloping the building is not a simple process like some hoped it would be because there are multiple obstacles the town must clear before anything can happen on the site.
The biggest issue with finding a new use for the property has to do with the deed of the building. When the Morgan Fund Trustees sold the property to the town in 1953, a deed on the property from the sale stated that the premises must always be used for the education interests of the residents.
Since 2019, 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.
At the council meeting on March 16, the council unanimously agreed to a resolution that would pay the trust $75,670. Town Manager Karl Kilduff said that the town’s attorney and the trust’s attorney had verbally agreed to the amount, but the town was still awaiting formal approval from the two attorneys.
Kilduff explained some context around the move following the meeting. “Originally, the Morgan Trust provided the funds that provided for the site that the Pierson School currently sites on. Their financial contribution created the deed restriction on part of the current site that limits the use of the parcel to something that serves the education needs of the citizens of Clinton,” said Kilduff.
“The process we are working through involves making a payment to the trust in consideration of their original contribution to remove the deed restriction that was placed on the property by the trust. The trust and the town have agreed that $75,670 is a fair payment to the trust to remove the deed restriction,” said Kilduff.
Kilduff also clarified that the move isn’t a sale.
“It isn’t a sale. The town already owns the property. The town is making a payment in consideration of the original financial contribution from the trust that provided the land. The payment removes the deed restriction on the property. A clear title opens the path forward for the town to determine a future re-use for the site without any restrictions,” said Kilduff.
Beyond the approval of the council, Kilduff told the council that the Connecticut Attorney General (AG)’s Office needs to approve the potential move.
“The hope is that since both parties have approved the dollar amount that it will be acceptable to the AG’s office,” Kilduff said during the meeting.
No date has been set for that office to review the proposal at press time.
Kilduff said that this would go a long way to finding a use for the property.
“The intent is to set the table for the next steps,” said Kilduff.
“While the council approved a resolution last night, we are still moving through a process,” Kilduff told the Harbor News. “The two parties to the deed restriction (the trust and the town) are on the same page. We still need to work with the staff of the AG’s Office to complete the process and clear the title of the site.”
The Abraham Pierson School was an important piece of Clinton’s educational life for more than 80 years and most recently housed the town’s 4th- and 5th graders. In 2018, the Board of Education voted to close the school at the end of the 2019 school year. 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.
It was only after the decision to close the school was made and the responsibility for caretaking of the school transferred from the Board of Ed to the town that the deed restrictions were discovered. In 2019, the town estimated the cy pres action wouldn’t take longer than 18 months. More than 33 months later, the action is still going on.
While some residents have voiced frustrations and accused the town of a lack of progress on the site, town leaders have pushed back on those claims. Town Council Chair Chris Aniskovich has pointed out more than once in the past that the council has discussed Pierson several times over the last two years but due to the legal situation concerning the property those talks had to be done in executive session. Aniskovich has also made clear that Kilduff has spent significant time working toward a resolution on the property.
Additionally, the town spent money last fall conduct an engineering study on the site. The purpose of that study was to determine what changes could possibly be made to the building.
“In short, can other floor plans work in the space or can the school only accommodate the existing walls [that] delineated classrooms? It would be important for the council to understand the extent to which the building could have alternate uses,” Kilduff said at the time.
In 2019, the town held a public meeting to gauge what potential future uses residents would be interested in. The three prevailing ideas came out of the public meeting were: 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.
The Town Council has repeatedly said that the public will have a role to play in finding a future use for the building.