Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 8/23/2022
EASTHAMPTON – The Easthampton City Council’s Property Committee pondered next steps in the process of developing future uses for the city’s three elementary schools during their Aug. 17 meeting.
City officials invited the public on July 18 to view the three elementary schools – Center School, Neil A. Pepin School, and Maple Street School – in an effort to generate ideas for future uses of the buildings.
On April 12, the School Committee declared the properties surplus and transferred them to the City Council, and in the fall, students and staff from the former schools will join others who have already moved from the former White Brook Middle School to start the school year at Mountain View School.
The city’s Planning Department submitted a draft request for proposal package (RFP) in May associated with the reuse of the three elementary schools. The RFP was prepared over the past 18 months through a public process with the Elementary School Reuse Committee, which consists of representatives from the Historical Commission, residents, Affordable Fair Housing Partnership, Council on Aging and Economic Development and Industrial Committee.
The goal of the RFP is to seek the redevelopment of the schools for affordable housing “across a range of affordability levels to address housing needs within the city.” The RFP is assembled so a potential developer could bid on one property or all.
In 2021 and 2022, the city also made amendments to its existing 40R Smart Growth Zoning District to ensure that permitting for the reuse of the schools would be eligible for by-right permitting, the flexibility to include first floor residential use, and to place all three school properties are properly within the district boundaries. The City Council officially approved the amended ordinance in May.
According to Michael Owens, a member of the School Building Committee and procurement officer, the school department officially declared that they are no longer using the buildings for educational purposes.
“I think each of the properties has their own unique traits,” said City Councilor Owen Zaret, the clerk of the Property Committee. According to Zaret, all three schools appear suitable for affordable housing, but each could also benefit from other mixed uses, specifically Pepin, which Zaret said could be used for a mixture of housing, nonprofit offices, and/or an extension of city space. Other possible options for community benefits identified through the RFP process include public parking, a playground at each site, and/or preservation of the Pepin gym.
“We heard some of the needs for some people in our community for those buildings,” said City Council President Homar Gomez, regarding the site visits. “At the end of the day, we have to see what the needs are for the community as a whole, and what is going to be the best for the three buildings to serve in our community.”
Property Committee Chair James Kwiecinski said that he wants to explore the affordable housing process a bit more, as well as the possibilities of utilizing the resources already present within the schools, particularly within the Pepin school. “If we lose the resources [at Pepin], we not only might shut out other nonprofits and other possible uses, but we also lose some resources that I don’t think we’ll ever get back,” said Kwiecinski, referring to Pepin’s gym and auditorium.
At Large City Councilor Brad Riley, who is a member of the Elementary School Reuse Committee, urged the other councilors to accept the RFP in its current iteration as soon as possible since it delineates the most pressing possible uses of the three buildings based on public feedback from the city’s Downtown Strategic initiative.
“We’re already talking years before we can actually have folks move into well-developed affordable housing units,” said Riley. “If we go back to the drawing board and pick apart things from the RFP process, then we could potentially be adding another six months to this process.”
Through conversations with nonprofit housing developers, Riley found that if the city decided to portion out parts of the buildings for multiple uses, then that will leave “very little room” for a certain number of affordable housing units inside the structures.
“Once we fall below a certain number of affordable housing units in a structure, then nonprofit developers cannot apply for the low-income housing tax credit,” said Riley. “And that’s really vital for these organizations to develop affordable housing units without making a profit and without coming in operationally at a financial loss.”
Without a nonprofit developer on board, the city would have to hire a private developer, which makes the process for obtaining affordable housing units much more difficult.
“There are people in Easthampton who are waiting on affordable housing,” continued Riley. “The longer we try to think about what this development of these three properties looks like, the longer we’re telling these folks in Easthampton, ‘you have to wait longer for affordable housing.’”
Janna Tetreault, the city’s chair of the Affordable and Fair Housing Partnership, said the partnership “fully supports the RFP as currently written.” She added that there is an “enormous” opportunity for the city to consider the three buildings for affordable housing.
Tetreault contextualized the need for affordable housing by speaking on her work with Community Action Pioneer Valley, and how that organization administered the Emergency Rental Assistance Program in Easthampton – which assisted 76 households throughout the city during the coronavirus pandemic.
“There are a lot of children living in poverty; there are a lot of families struggling,” said Tetreault, regarding what she found in her work. “[Affordable housing] is a huge need in the city.”
Mayor Nicole LaChapelle also emphasized the need for more affordable housing by speaking on the seemingly slow process to get to the point the city is at now with the three schools.
“Over the last five years, the city has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on making affordable housing possible in Easthampton,” said LaChapelle. “With all due respect, for whatever reason, for the City Council to have this RFP and 28 public documents on a website that dates back two years, and now getting an RFP on May 26, and we’re at this point now, is unconscionable. Who have we lost in this city who is homeless since May?”
To expedite the process, LaChapelle is putting a written request to remove the RFP from the Property Committee agenda and put it in front of the full City Council for a full public hearing and vote.
City Planner Jeff Bagg said there are 20 other documents associated with the main RFP, one of which involves Mass. Development developing a conceptual plans for all three schools. “It’s not saying that that’s what’s going to happen,” said Bagg, regarding the conceptual plans. “It’s more a fit test, so it does show that is reasonable to expect a few public parking spaces, and tenant parking spaces, and green space available for a playground or tenant use.”
According to Bagg, the tentative calendar involves releasing the RFP in October, with hopes of garnering responses to the document by February.
The council must vote on the full RFP before it can be sent out. The next scheduled City Council meeting is Sept. 7, and the Property Committee will review the RFP during their Aug. 31 meeting.
People can view the full RFP draft online, which also includes other information about the schools themselves: https://easthamptonma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4019/20220526-Easthampton-Elementary-Schools-RFP---final---l-r-2.