Officials in Clinton are still searching for a use for the now vacant Pierson School property following an Aug. 25 Town Council workshop. While no decisions were made, a future public hearing was promised.

The Pierson School, which sits in the heart of town, has been empty for nearly three years after having been part of the Clinton education community for more than 80 years. In 2018, the town’s Board of Education (BOE) 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.

Though there is still a ways to go before anything concrete happens with the property, the Town Council decided in July to ask Town Manager Karl Kilduff to gather cost estimates for potential new uses and to schedule a workshop for Aug. 25. The workshop produced no definite plans, but did shed light on some of the issues the town will have to weigh as a new use is decided.

During the workshop, which was attended by a handful of residents in addition to the Council members, Council chairperson Chris Aniskovich emphasized that the workshop was meant to be informational only and that no decisions would be made. Aniskovich said that public hearings would be scheduled eventually to get public input on what is an enticing and significant redevelopment opportunity for Clinton. Aniskovich suggested the public hearing could be held by the end of the year.

An engineering study was previously conducted on the Pierson School to help determine the building’s condition and the feasability of potential reuses . During the presentation on Aug. 25, Kilduff said the Town essentially has three decisions to make regarding the property: retain it for a town use, retain a portion for town use and lease remaining space, or sell the property entirely.

Citing the lack of a dedicated senior center or community center, some residents have suggested that the Pierson property could be the solution to that problem. In that circumstance, the Town would retain possession of the building and would require a substantial financial investment.

According to Kilduff’s estimates, a light renovation of the property including painting, fixing windows, and items of that nature, would cost about $11 million. A more intensive renovation would cost $17 million. Those estimates do not include costs like adding air conditioning or updating the building to be ADA compliant.

Those proposed renovations would greatly affect the town’s debt budget. Per Kilduff’s estimate an $11 million renovation would increase the tax rate by 3.6 percent while the $17 million renovation would increase it 5.6 percent. Compounding the issue, Kilduff pointed out that the Town has several other major potential bonding projects to consider in the years to come such as a new fire department, the Rocky Ledge waterline installation, the Long Hill sewer installation, a downtown sewer installation, and a coastal sewer installation.

In addition to renovation related costs, the Town would also incur operating costs associated with building a community center or senior center. Between programming, staffing, and building operating costs, Kilduff estimated $1,005,983 as a total operating expense for a community center and senior center. Kilduff said that there may be some grants available to help with costs but not in a way to significantly defray the costs.

“There’s still a big lift the Town would have to shoulder,” said Kilduff.

Aniskovich reminded the audience that though the school has been closed for three years the town “didn’t save a ton of money for that.”

Kilduff said it was hard to estimate costs or profits associated with a hybrid model or selling the property as there are a lot of unknowns with those options and no way to gauge what kinds of uses developers would be interested in pursuing. Kilduff did say, however, that a popular trend is converting old schools into housing.

Aniskovich said that should the Town opt to sell the property, the Town could negotiate keeping the facade of the school or the gazebo on the property, something residents voiced a desire for in the past.

Compounding the search for a new use for the property is the question of the building’s deed. 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 ongoing legal action, officially called a cy pres, which would lift the deed restriction. Town officials learned about the deed restriction after the BOE decided to close the school in 2018, but then-first selectman Christine Goupil estimated the cy pres action wouldn’t take longer than 18 months. More than three years later, the action is still going on. In March of 2022, the Town Council unanimously agreed to a resolution that would pay the Morgan Trust $75,670 to help remove the deed restriction.

“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,” Kilduff said earlier in 2022.

The Connecticut Attorney General ’s Office needs to approve the payment, but Kilduff said since both the town and the trust are in agreement of the exchange it’s hopeful the state won’t object, though there is no timetable for an end to the process at this time.

In response to a question about setting up a committee to work on finding a use for the property, Aniskovich said the Council will be handling the matter since the Council will ultimately be the body responsible for deciding what happens to the property.

“This is the most difficult decision people in this town will have for many years,” Aniskovich said. “Whatever happens to that property will have an effect for 50 years at least.”

Aniskovich noted there is no easy answer for what to do with the building and called the potential tax increases Kilduff estimated “scary numbers”.

“That to me was the most shocking part, the tax increase. I want everyone in town to know that before we make a decision,” said Aniskovich.

Aniskovich said that going forward the council will likely keep Pierson as an Agenda Item G and have more discussions as information’s becomes available.

“It’s not as simple a process as I think some people think it is. There’s a lot of decisions to make and more questions we need to ask. Once we make a decision on what to do that’s it, there’s no redo,” said Aniskovich.

“The Council has no secret information, which I think some people think we do. Everything we know is out there,” Aniskovich continued.

While the Council will be making the decision, Aniskovich reiterated that the public will have a large role to play in determining the future of the property. Aniskovich said the council will hold more public discussions on the property and public hearings where residents can formally make their thoughts known.