Planning for what’s next for the Stephen Palmer property has been placed on hold while the School Committee evaluates how or even if it will assert its jurisdiction over the 1.5-acre parcel.
The former school building’s five-decade use as an apartment complex for seniors will soon come to an end. It is expected to be vacated sometime after Oct. 31, the termination date for the leases on all 28 units.
At its July 13 meeting, the committee voted to give itself more time to study whether they have a compelling reason to have the property revert to a school use or turn it over to the town for an alternative plan.
The town’s 50-year lease with the property manager, Crowninshield, does not expire until May 2027 but Town Meeting voted in the fall to support the Select Board’s plan to begin the “wind down” six months ahead of the return of the property to town control.
It is the details of that control that have proven to be a complication in planning for a new use for the former school, located at the corner of May and Pickering streets. Select Board Chair Heidi Frail referred to “a muddy understanding” of the original 1970s-era lease and how the turnback to the town would be executed.
The town was taken by surprise to learn that Crowninshield was not obligated to return the building free of tenants, although that was discovered more than two years ago. Similarly, the School Committee seemed unaware that it, and not the Select Board, would have jurisdiction over the property once it was returned to the town.
“There was no one on this board — this configuration of board members — that had any idea that Stephen Palmer was under our jurisdiction,” School Committee Chair Alisa Skatrud said when the committee discussed its options at its July 13 meeting.
Tenants were certainly not pleased to learn they would be required to vacate six months earlier than anticipated, although they are eligible for up to $10,000 per unit in reimbursement for relocation expenses. The town also has contracted with HousingToHome, a relocation consulting firm, to provide one-on-one housing search assistance.
As of July 2, 16 tenants had moved out or given notice. The Select Board is managing the wind down and the School Committee was abundantly clear that it has no interest in being involved in that process.
Committee work had stalled
Prior to the jurisdictional uncertainties arising, the Select Board had started working on a plan, establishing the Stephen Palmer Development Review Committee to study possible new uses for the property.
The SPDC first met Oct. 15 of last year. It held a community meeting in January in which residents were asked to weigh in on the site’s possible uses and had begun to winnow down the options. The town also received expressions of interest from potential users or partners, including the Charles River YMCA and the Needham Housing Authority.
A planned second community meeting was scrubbed when it became clear the jurisdictional issues needed to be better understood. Town Manager Katie King, who has participated in every meeting of the Stephen Palmer committee, made it known to the schools that some clarity was needed on their plans.
“With many different conversations that have been happening, we’ve arrived at a point where the town manager feels the need to take some steps,” Superintendent Dan Gutekanst told the School Committee July 13.
School Committee votes to retain jurisdiction for now
Skatrud noted that the schools had already communicated that they could not identify any “imminent need” that the Stephen Palmer site could enable and the committee saw no role for itself in the wind down process.
“There are very clear, longer-term needs that this parcel may play a part in meeting,” she said. “So, we did not want to turn jurisdiction over to the Select Board for them to continue with their planning process.”
“The Select Board started the tenant wind down, and I think that they should see that through. I really have no desire to control or dictate what happens to the land in the short term, as long as that land is available to us for what we see as longer-term needs.”
Member Andrea Longo Carter and other board members said the School Committee is intent on ensuring that it is serving the town’s educational needs.
“I want to make sure that our interests are protected,” Longo Carter said.
The committee discussed a motion calling for the “preparation of a Memorandum of Agreement that documents the School Committee and Select Board’s agreement relative to the property.”
“I’d want to make sure that doesn’t preclude other options that are relevant to us further down the road,” Longo Carter said.
The committee ultimately voted unanimously to approve a three-part motion to:
- Retain jurisdiction of the Stephen Palmer property after the conclusion of the May 3, 1977, Ground Lease between the Town and Stephen Palmer Associates
- Request the Select Board to assume management of the property at the conclusion of the Ground Lease with authority to wind down the existing residential use
- Authorize preparation of an MOA that “documents the School Committee and Select Board’s agreement relative to the property.”
Next stop: the Select Board
As it happens, the School Committee had already been scheduled to attend the Select Board’s July 21 meeting when the Select Board votes on placing the Pollard School project debt exclusion override question on the November ballot.
Frail said the meeting could also include discussion of how the Stephen Palmer Redevelopment Committee should proceed and under whose direction.
“A Select Board-sponsored committee doesn’t make a lot of sense if how it’s going to be assessed for reuse will be the school committee’s job,” Frail said.
“There haven’t been any decisions made about what’s going to happen in the intermediate or long term. Those are decisions that the school committee would direct.”
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