HADLEY — Guidance for the future of the former Russell School Building could be provided through results of a community survey being distributed to residents this fall.
With the Russell School Committee in place, its first order of work has been to prepare a survey so that it can gauge townspeople’s preferences among a range of options for the vacant 1894 building, situated on about 2 acres at Route 9 and Middle Street.
“The intention of the survey is to determine what the community wants to see happen with the building,” committee member Courtney Meyer told the Select Board at its Sept. 21 meeting.
The Select Board has to give approval to the language of the survey, which it is likely to do at its Oct. 5 meeting, so the survey can be inserted into the Nov. 1 water bills.
Meyer said the survey will be posted online and the committee will use a Bitly web address and a QR code, with hard copies of the survey available at the senior center and library, and information about the survey posted in such places as the post office and possibly at churches, as well as in Hadley-oriented social media groups.
Survey results would be compiled early next year, and a public forum on the building would be scheduled, Meyer said.
The town has no plans for the building, though estimates have put the price tag for at least $21 million to renovate it, possibly more due to inflation. Since its last occupant, Northstar Self-Directed Learning for Teens, moved to Sunderland, the building’s west portico, closest to Hopkins Academy, has been failing.
Last year, two local developers responded to a town advertisement and submitted letters of interest that sought to convert the building into apartments, with the town retaining ownership and entering into a long-term lease for the 10,613-square-foot building. But those plans didn’t advance.
Committee member Dan Regish said the building’s future is an important issue for the town. The survey, he said, should be seen as the first step in drawing attention to a historic asset.
Most important, Regish said, is to stabilize the structure. Next spring’s annual Town Meeting might ask residents to provide Community Preservation Act money for the building to buy time for longer-term plans. Otherwise, the building will deteriorate if it continues to be neglected.
Regish said he is confident that following the town’s completion of the new library, senior center and fire substation, Hadley is ready to turn attention to maintaining its history.
“With the town’s approval, we’ll make sure that this building stands for future residents to have use of it,” Regish said.
