West Broad Street May Yet Be Reborn As A School

PAWCATUCK, CT — The town would be the landlord and the church would be the tenant.

This year marks the 120th birthday of West Broad Street School. Shuttered last spring for good as one of Stonington’s public schools, it may yet house students.

In the proposed lease agreement, the use is defined as as elementary and middle school. The renter would be St. Michael’s Church. It would pay rent to the town of $300 a month for the next three, or five, years for the site.

After voters blessed a near $70 million expansion of West Vine Street and Deans Mill schools, by March of 2019, the historic school attended by generations of Pawcatuck families, closed its doors and the building was handed over to the town.

Now, a Board of Selectmen public hearing slated for Wednesday Jan.8 will be held on the proposed lease, negotiated and signed off on by former First Selectman Rob Simmons with a nod of approval by the Stonington Facilities Committee and the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Some are questioning whether the deal is a good thing for the town. A public hearing is a good place for the community to have that conversation.

Noted in the documents below, on social media and in a report from The Westerly Sun, the deal is for St. Michael's School to lease the former school for three years with an additional two year option to renew at a cost of $300 a month with the church responsible for routine maintenance but the town responsible for any major repairs.

Some say that the latter is a certainty given the age of the building. Others say that its potential use as a private school means no tax revenue for the town.

According to records, the site owned by the town is appraised at $4.4 million and assessed at around $305,000.

The Georgian Revival structure is part of the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places’ Mechanic Street Historic District.

According to documents, the Rev. Dennis Perkins of St. Michael's first approached the town in the spring of 2019 about not only leasing, but possibly rehabilitating the old school.

Read the documents on the proposed deal, including letters, signed agreements and lease terms here:

Stonington's West Broad... by Ellyn Santiago on Scribd

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