West Broad Street School Bells Will Ring Again: Report

PAWCATCUK, CT — The rent is cheap. Just $300 a month. But the maintenance costs are expected to hit the roof, the leaking roof. Still, West Broad Street School, the more than century old center of learning for countless kids over the generations, will again welcome students.

According to a report in The Westerly Sun, the town will officially be the landlord and St. Michael's will be the tenant, for the next three to five years.

As this year marks the 120th birthday of the school which was closed last spring for good as one of Stonington's public schools, the sounds of students, albeit not quite as many as in previous years, will once again fill hallways.

The lease agreement has St. Michael's paying a few hundred a month in rent but will be responsible for the building's maintenance. As Patch reported earlier this month, after voters agreed to a near $70 million expansion of West Vine Street and Deans Mill schools, in March of 2019,the historic school attended by generations of local families, closed its doors and the building was handed over to the town.

After a couple of public hearings, the Board of Selectmen voted Wednesday to approve the which had been lease, negotiated and signed off on by former First Selectman Rob Simmons with agreement from the Stonington Facilities Committee and the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Some questioned the deal and others supported it.

In documents and in a previous report from The Sun, it was noted the lease is 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 said that the latter is a certainty given the age of the building. Others said 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 here.

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