St. Michael’s Purchase
Today South Berwick Town Manager Jeff Grossman gave the236diner.com an update on the progress of the St. Michael’s Parish purchase. The 90 day option to buy is due to expire on April 6, 2008. Mr. Grossman reports that the process is moving forward on time and gave a summary of the progress:
- Appraisal of the property is in process. There have been no further negotiations about price.
- Wetlands Evaluation has been done and the town is awaiting the written report
- Structural Review
- The town has looked into a previous study on the building done by Oakpoint for St. Michael’s but found it was not a study but rather a proposal for work on the building. The town has requested a copy but has not received it yet
- Becker Structural Engineers, Inc. has completed a structural evaluation on the buildings, which Mr. Grossman received today. The general opinion of Becker is that the church structure is in good condition overall and is well suited to structural upgrades and that the church floor could be reinforced to support library stack loads. (Read Becker Structural Engineers’ Structural Evaluation report)
- Title work has been completed.
- Survey work is in process
- The next step will be for the Town Council to review the structural evaluation and make a decision about whether to proceed to retain architectural services to further assess the suitability of the buildings for use as a library. Mr. Grossman has made some initial contacts with architectural firms for readiness if the Council chooses to move ahead.
Mr. Grossman says that $1.1 million will be included in this year’s budget, $1 million for the purchase of the St. Michael’s property and $100,000 for a Master Plan. (Update: On 2/21/08 Mr. Grossman clarified that “it is the debt service for the 1.1 million bond that will be included in the FY 2009 budget.”) The $600,000 library bond that the voters approved last year will be kept on the books if the Council chooses to utilize those bond proceeds for the development of a library or associated expenses.
Development of the St. Michael’s property and the development of a Master Plan go hand in hand according to Mr. Grossman. A Master Plan would extend the work in the Comprehensive Plan by focusing on the downtown area. A Master Planning process would look at how all aspects of downtown, including traffic flow, public buildings, town services, the library, and other future projects such as senior assisted living housing would all work together to create a cohesive downtown plan. Mr. Grossman believes that having a Master Plan would get everyone on the same page about the priorities and goals for downtown and would provide a framework for deciding which priorities to fund each year.
Read a summary of the special town meeting where citizens voted to enter the purchase option on the St. Michael’s property.
Tags: downtown, Library, so. berwick government, south berwick