Community Corner

A Last-Minute Push To Save Cohanzie School

A woman's plea to save Cohanzie School has First Selectman Dan Steward questioning why it took so long.

A woman's push to save Cohanzie School has left First Selectman Dan Steward wondering why she waited this long.

A recent article in The Day highlighted the protest of Kathleen Reagan, who is pushing to save Cohanzie School. The town has secured a grant from the state to knock down the school and hopes to have it leveled by the end of the summer.

"This is a hub, a tie to the community," Reagan told The Day. "We need community, we need kids to grow up in the community. When you take away landmarks and ties people no longer care and this is valuable."

The process to knock down Cohanzie School has been going on for five years and has been completely public, Steward said. He questioned why Reagan is just now complaining about it, when it is just a few short months from being demolished.

Steward applied for a demolition permit to knock down the building last week after the town deemed the property on Dayton Road was worth more without it than with it. As part of that permit, the town notified all property owners within 150 feet of the property.

Reagan can protest against the demolition, but unless she has a specific plan for what the building should be used for, that protest can be ignored, Steward said. He said he was eager to knock down the school, which has been vacant since 2008, and sell the property to turn it into a useful parcel for the town.

Cohanzie School was closed after its students were consolidated into the new Quaker Hill Elementary School in 2008. The town plans to sell the building to a developer looking to turn it into senior housing or a mixed-se development composed of low-traffic retail and housing, Steward said. 


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