WHATELY — It will cost taxpayers $1 for Union 38 School District’s former 219 Christian Lane administration building.
“As a municipal building that was sold to us for $1 by the town of Whately (in 2004, according to town records), they have always had the option of first refusal in the case of a sale,” District Superintendent Lynn Carey said. “We now need a written statement from the town either telling us they want the building back for $1 or they do not want first refusal in the case of sale.”
School administration abandoned the early-1900s building in December after reports of poor air quality, which first emerged in 2015. The administration moved to renovated classrooms at Frontier Regional School in South Deerfield. Old carpeting, bird waste, and outdated ventilation were findings cited as causes for the air quality problems.
The district’s $1 offer will be presented to the Select Board at a meeting next Wednesday in the Sandy Lane town offices. Following the board’s recommendation, the proposition will be put to a townwide vote at a special Town Meeting Aug. 30.
Before that, Frontier Regional School Committee will discuss other steps, including possible sale, furniture removal and an easement for a ballfield on the property, at an Aug. 22 meeting in the North Main Street school.
Carey noted, “depending on the vote, we will have the letter in place to use when we conduct the sale. We are still in the very, very early stages of preparing for a sale.”
Town officials were not available to comment on whether the building would be good for the town.
Public records value the 8,700-square-foot building at $383,200. The building has a concrete frame covered by stucco and a gable slate roof. The 1.3-acre property (including the ballfield) is valued at another $109,000.
Previously, a pro temp committee looking into renovation costs determined it’d take about $500,000 to completely overhaul the building, bringing it up to modern safety codes. This work includes adding an elevator.