Plans For Vacant Cohanzie Have Older Demographic In Mind

In the fall of 2008, after the new Quaker Hill Elementary School opened, Cohanzie Elementary School was left for dead. The building has been empty ever since, but it is still costing money for utilities, a burden on the taxpayer.

Tuesday, the town took a step toward removing that burden and turning the property into a benefit. The board of selectmen voted to spend $10,000 to hire a consultant to help write a grant to demolish the building.

“In our assessment, the value of the property is worth more without the structure,” Town Planner Tom Wagner said, referring to the school that was built in the 1920s.

Once flattened, the town is hoping to sell the land to a developer, who would turn the property into a 54-unit low-income elderly housing unit. The elderly housing facility would fill a huge need, Senior Services Director Sally Ritchie said.

Currently, people need to wait two to three years to get into a low-income housing unit, Ritchie said. People often delay that decision as long as possible, so when they do make it, waiting another two to three years can have devastating effects, she said.

“There is a real need,” Ritchie said.

The Process

The town agreed to put Lisa Lowe & Associates on retainer for $10,000 to help apply for a small cities grant, which would cover the cost of demolishing the building. The grant is very complicated and very competitive, so to have a good chance to get it, expertise is needed, Ritchie said.

Once it is acquired, and the building is demolished, the town will sell the property at market value, Wagner said. Terry Mitchell, who has built similar facilities in town and in East Lyme, has said he could get federal funding to build the structure and would buy the land, Wagner said.

“Mitchell knows how to do this and get the money from the government and get this done,” Selectman Paul Konstantakis said.

Better To Keep The Building?

The building has almost no value, Wagner said. The accessibility within the building is terrible, for example, he said.

“When you open up the main door there is a stairway you have to go up,” he said. “It is a godawful building.”

There is a chance some of the building could be kept, although it unlikely, Wagner said. The developer can look into it, once a plan is created, although it is unlikely anything will be useful, he said.

Southwest School

Meanwhile, Southwest Elementary School, which closed in the fall of 2010 when the new Great Neck Elementary School opened, is being used, First Selectman Dan Steward said. LEARN is running a dual language school there, he said.

LEARN is leasing the property from the town, Steward said. The town makes some money off of the deal, but not anything of real significance, he said.

Selectman Paul Suprin asked Wagner to consider leasing the Cohanzie School property to a developer instead of selling it. There is a tax abatement on low-income senior housing, so the town should see if it can make more money leasing the property than selling and taxing it, he said.

Wagner said he would look into it.