North Adams Council Backs Special Act to Move School Sale Forward
Sullivan School closed a decade ago and has been the site of vandalism and fires. The Mass MoCA Art Foundation plans to buy it to create studios and housing.
The sale of the 1965 building to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation has been held up for nearly two years for a variety of reasons, the most pertinent being part of the driveway is under the state's Article 97.
"The stumbling block is this access to the Sullivan School property through a driveway that is currently situated on Kemp Park," said Community Development Director Marya Kozik. "The requested easement is only over a limited portion of Kemp Park, which has, for quite some time, been paved and used as a driveway, and it will continue to be used as such."
When what was then East School was built next to Kemp Park, an easement of under a half-acre of parkland was used for the school's driveway. State and federal funding has been used on the land, which put it under the park's conservation restriction.
The swap process required the city to evaluate more than one property not under conservation: The Veterans Memorial Park, but that might be touched if improvements are made to the intersection, and several other pieces were deemed unsuitable for recreational use.
The half-acre easement has a value of $19,000, with its "highest and best use" as a driveway. The Miner Street parcel of 0.8 acres runs from the intersection of Union Street to Willow Dell and is valued at $35,000, but also is undevelopable.
Kozik confirmed that the city will continue to own that part of the driveway as part of Kemp Park; the purchaser would be given an easement.
The Mass MoCA Art Foundation will purchase the long vacant school for $50,000. It plans to create affordable artists' housing and use classrooms on the lower level for music education. It will include short-term rental spaces and condominiums catering to artists, designers and production personnel along with single-family modular housing on the 12-acre property.
Kozik said the foundation has completed its due diligence for the purchase and this final obstacle will allow the sale to go through.
Councilor Lillian Zavatsky asked how it would affect people who park in the bumpout on the driveway to access the park; Mayor Jennifer Macksey said she believed MoCA would give access to the public based on conversations, but also noted that people will be living there.
Councilor Peter Breen raised concerns about access and responsibilities, saying "we could be liable for anything because we still own the property. We'll receive no taxes on it, and we haven't done an agreement of what could happen to the property."
Mayor Jennifer Macksey said they couldn't get to the point of an agreement because the land was under a restriction.
"It's not just this project that would be prohibited," agreed Councilor Lisa Blackmer. "No one else is going to buy it or enter into a contract with us."
Councilor Andrew Fitch said he supported the special act, noting the school's been closed for a decade and the site of vandalism and that MoCA was looking to invest millions into it.
"This is the the best thing that could possibly happen to this space, and probably more than we could reasonably expect at this point in time," he said. "I think MoCA has exhibited extreme patience, and I'm very grateful for that patience."
President Ashley Shade agreed, "if we don't get this special act, it's going to be almost impossible for us to do anything with this project in the future or with this property. That's the real takeaway from this."
Article 97 was ratified in 1972 to protect and preserve open and recreational space and states public lands acquired for conservation can't be sold without a two-thirds vote by both branches of the Legislature. The policy, however, does allow for land swapping under "exceptional circumstances." The special act won't before the Legislature until next January and its passage will depend on how fast it works.
The mayor said it came up during the due diligence process.
"I'm surprised that it hasn't come up in past years, but here we sit," she said. "As we move forward on disposing of other property, we are already looking at Article 97 and whether the buildings fall into it or not."
In other business, the council postponed action on ordinances establishing a sustainability committee, revising dog regulations, and three referring to revised building codes and short-term rentals (for public hearings with the Planning Board on Sept. 14).
• The council approved a new fee schedule for boards and commissions.
• The council approved utility pole relocations to advance the reconstruction of Walnut Street after a public hearing at the beginning of the meeting with National Grid.
• Blackmer brought forward a recommendation to enter into a sister city partnership with Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. State Sen. Paul Mark had approached her with the suggestion after serving a decade as the honorary champion for the Bosnian community, many of whom came to Massachusetts during the 1990s Balkan Wars.
"They are brave and hardworking people and have found a welcoming home here in our state, where they thrive and contribute to our Commonwealth in many ways," the senator wrote.
The councilors wondered what connection the city could have with Mostar; Councilor Bryan Sapienza said a local church had sponsored several families from Bosnia during the war.
"I have no opinion one way or the other," he said, but added, "the more that we know about our neighbors globally, I think that makes a better connection, just like we have the current connection with Italy right now, and I'm kind of partial to that one because I am Italian."
Tags: conserved land, home rule petition, land sales, Sullivan School,
