Bennington voters will have a say during Town Meeting Day 2024 on whether the municipal government should sell the local senior citizens’ center.
Town officials have included the Bennington Senior Center in a public-private partnership deal to acquire and redevelop the former Bennington High School, right in the center of town.
But 509 Bennington residents have signed a petition to let voters determine the immediate fate of the senior center building. That’s more than 5% of the town’s 9,700 registered voters, which means the selectboard must put the question to the voters — either at a special election or at the annual town meeting in March.
The selectboard decided Monday to place the question on the ballot in March. Organizing a special election would cost the municipal government up to $6,000, Town Manager Stuart Hurd told the selectboard, and voter turnout is usually larger at the town meeting than for a special election.
Nancy White, a proponent of the petition, hopes a vote on the senior center’s sale would spur more local residents to scrutinize the $29.8 million Bennington High redevelopment project — and possibly apply the brakes.
“That’s my issue with the whole project: It’s gonna cost us too much as a town,” White said in an interview.
At the meeting Monday, Hurd said the March vote won’t be an obstacle to the infrastructure project. Proponents, he said, are already looking for an alternative plan in case voters reject the senior center’s proposed transfer to the owner of the former Bennington High School.
“We are working with the developers to address that shortfall, and we believe we will have a solution for that relatively quickly,” Hurd said.
The project aims to redevelop the century-old school building into spaces for housing, office work, social services and fitness. The former high school was replaced by Mount Anthony Union High School, located a few blocks to the north.
Under the municipal government’s agreement with real estate developer Hale Resources, the town of Bennington would invest $2.9 million in the project and lease about a quarter of the 100,000-square-foot building. That space would become the new home of the Bennington Senior Center and the county’s Meals on Wheels program, and would also host a YMCA gymnasium.
Hale Resources plans to transform most of the remaining area into a new child care facility and 39 apartments, including 17 units of permanently affordable housing. About 3,000 square feet is being set aside for office space.
Hale Resources agreed to foot about 90% of the project cost, tapping sources that include grants, tax credits and private investments. The town’s portion of the price tag involves $2 million in construction expenses and $500,000 in pre-development and fit-up costs — which will be funded with federal coronavirus relief dollars.
Under the current plan, the town would help with purchasing the former high school from its current owner, Chris Gilbert, by transferring ownership of the existing Bennington Senior Center to him. The center is valued at $400,000.
Hale Resources would also pay Gilbert $1 million in cash, the former high school’s appraised value, said Zak Hale, the company’s co-partner. Gilbert, a resident of Dorset and Red Hook, New York, bought the property in 2020 for $146,000. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In an interview Tuesday, Hale said he is still finalizing details of the alternative to transferring the senior center’s ownership to Gilbert. He said this is a significant part of the plan development phase, because funders want to see that the project is going strong.
“Funders don’t like the uncertainty,” Hale said, but added that “it’s not the end of the world.”
The purchase deal with Gilbert is scheduled to close in June, he said, and Hale Resources plans to begin construction by October 2024. Under that timeline, he said, the building tenants and residents can move in at the start of 2026.
Hale Resources would eventually own the school building, with the town given an initial lease of 15 years and an option to extend up to 50 years. The real estate developer would also be responsible for maintaining the building.
Once the building opens its doors to tenants, the town government expects to spend $200,000 a year for a lease and $88,000 on utilities, education taxes and maintenance costs. But town officials expect that to have minimal impact on taxpayers.
They also regard the infrastructure project as an investment in Bennington’s revitalization. They’ve said it would create housing for various income levels, add indoor recreation facilities, rehabilitate a building that has largely been vacant since 2004 and add to the tax rolls.
