BATH

A purchase and sale agreement between the city of Bath and Szanton Monks Properties for the sale of the Huse School site was approved by Bath City Council members on Wednesday night.

The proposed project will involve the redevelopment of the Huse School site as a housing unit.

Bill Giroux, the city manager, noted that the property has been on the market for a couple years and was appraised according to the sales policy.

“I know it’s not a simple agreement or a simple deal, but it’s a good one for the city,” he said.

Councilor Gregory Page was also in support of the agreement.

“It’s encouraging that the city is starting to take measures to move surplus property back into the open market — that’s real encouraging,” he said. “One thing that we need to remember is that something’s going to have to be done with that site. The Szanton group is very good at what they do — they have outstanding projects throughout Southern Maine.”

Page also encouraged residents to voice their opinions about the project.

“I’d like to urge the citizens out there that if you have an opinion on this project, you need to pay attention and you need to make your opinions known to us,” he said. “We represent you — we don’t want to make these decisions in a vacuum.”

Mari Eosco, chairman of the council, noted that once approved, the project will “take on a life of its own” and citizens will be able to keep track of the project’s progress through the planning board.

“There will be lots of opportunity for people to talk about the good, the bad, and everything in between,” she added.

Councilor Susan Bauer voiced a concern about whether the site could be considered by the RSU 1 as a potential location for the new Morse High School and “whether we need to think about that before say yes to this.”

“It would be in our best interest to redevelop a historic property. We’d have to hold onto this building for a couple years before we then put it back on the market just to wait and see if they want to demolish as part of a high school project,” Giroux said in response to Bauer. “My senses would be to move forward with the viable project that you have in front of you.”

Councilor James Omo disagreed and said he spoke to a number of constituents who do not approve of the project.

“I think the city would be better served by demolishing the building and having a new area for the high school or more parking and access to fields in the area,” he said.

When Bauer proposed that there be more public input before proceeding with the agreement, Eosco said that the developers had held a meeting in the neighborhood to allow residents to voice their concerns. Eosco, councilor Kyle Rogers and Bernard Wyman were also present at this meeting.

“There were some challenges, but I believe the Szanton company knows what the challenges are — they’ve done of lot of constituency work and they’ve talked and reach out to people. They’ve been good stewards of the process so far,” Rogers said.

Giroux also said that the property was under agreement at one point for a similar use, with not as many units and less experienced developers.

“So we’re not reinventing the wheel here, we’re just moving forward with a prior plan with a different set of players,” Rogers clarified.

According to a housing study between the city and Bath Housing, there is a need for this type of housing, said Eosco.

Debora Keller, the executive director of Bath Housing, said the study was not a market study for any particular project, but a Bath area housing assessment that took a global look at all things housing in its geographic footprint, which includes Bath, West Bath, Woolwich, Georgetown, Arrowsic and Phippsburg.

“We found out that the existing housing stocks in this community are not at all well suited to the demographics and changing demographics of this area,” Keller said.

Eosco noted that the new housing would also benefit the young professionals in the community.

“I talked to three or four young professionals who are very excited about having a type of housing available to them,” she said. “It would be concise, and it would be a starting place for people who are in their young professional careers.” She also added that the units would also serve the older generation in the community.

Following the approval, Omo was selected by the council to represent Bath in RSU 1’s restructuring committee that will be meeting later this month.

“He’ll be a great person to have on there — he was there when the RSU was being formed so he’s got that historic knowledge that might be helpful so that we won’t make mistakes that might have been made the first time around,” Eosco said in support of the decision.

In other action, after an executive session, council members approved the motion for the city to solicit bids for the purchase of property on 210 Middle St., which was acquired by the city.

dkim@timesrecord.com

Housing study

DEBORA KELLER, executive director of Bath Housing, said a study took a global look at all things housing in its geographic footprint, which includes Bath, West Bath, Woolwich, Georgetown, Arrowsic and Phippsburg.

“We found out that the existing housing stocks in this community are not at all well suited to the demographics and changing demographics of this area,” Keller said.