January 9, 2006
COMMENTARY: The old schoolyard | Two points of view on the City of Augusta's controversial plan to sell a portion of the current Cony High School property to developers planning a new Hannaford supermarket
By William Bridgeo And William Johnson
Good value for the property,and good growth for the city
By William Bridgeo
City manager, Augusta
Two years ago, George Campbell, president of CB Richard Ellis/The Boulos Co., came to my office with a proposal. Without disclosing his client, George advised me that his company was interested in acquiring a portion of the property that is the current site of Cony High School in order to construct a 60,000-square-foot commercial building.
Augusta had recently secured state funding for a new school on another site and would be vacating the old buildings ˆ both the original, historic Flatiron Building and a less-attractive, 40-year-old, 200,000-square-foot-annex ˆ within two years. George indicated that The Boulos Co. would pay top dollar for the land and would cover all the costs of demolishing the annex ˆ estimated at about $1 million given the asbestos it contained. What's more, The Boulos Co. would underwrite all of the city's costs associated with the planning review and permitting processes. The city would retain ownership of the Flatiron Building and sufficient land around it for landscaping and parking needs in order to restore and reuse the site.
The deal would place a previously tax-exempt parcel on city tax rolls to the sum of about $200,000 a year. Up to this time, the city had yet to address how it would reuse or dispose of the old high school site. As attractive as his offer was, though, I told George that my advice to the city council would be that the city develop a formal request for proposals to be publicly advertised and widely distributed to the development community. Soon thereafter, the city council tasked a subcommittee to work with me to develop an appropriate RFP.
The city's development office crafted a document with input from the subcommittee. After public comment, the full council, in open meeting, approved the RFP process. City staff advertised the RFP solicitation throughout Maine and mailed copies to all of the regional real estate development firms known to them. By the deadline a month later, my office had received only one submission ˆ from The Boulos Co. The company offered to pay $1.5 million for six acres (three times the going rate for prime commercial land near the Marketplace Mall at Augusta), as well as to absorb all demolition and related costs. The company's client, Hannaford Bros., would replace a rundown supermarket across from City Hall by building a state-of-the-art, 47,000-square-foot-store on the site. The city council deliberated publicly on the proposal and voted to accept it.
During and since that process, some residents have opposed the Boulos proposal. They argue it is an inappropriate use for that historic site, that deed restrictions prevent its use for non-educational purposes, that it will adversely impact the surrounding neighborhood (especially with increased traffic) and that the council has not followed city procedures in awarding a purchase and sale agreement to Boulos and Hannaford.
The opponents have been smart, energetic and resourceful. Last spring, they garnered 1,400 signatures and forced a local referendum on the council's action. In an extraordinarily high turnout for a local election, voters supported the project 55% to 45%. Nonetheless, opponents are undaunted and the zoning and site plan approval processes are proving contentious. Two separate legal challenges to the plan are now before the Kennebec County Superior Court.
However, a strong majority of my bosses ˆ the mayor and eight councilors ˆ continue to support the project. They feel that the benefits greatly outweigh any perceived downside. Those benefits include the $1.5 million in sale proceeds that will be used to help offset the local-only cost of amenities like a full-sized auditorium at the new high school; $1 million in avoided demolition and site clearance costs; $200,000 a year in property taxes; retention of a mid-sized supermarket in our downtown; and site and traffic improvements that will facilitate the restoration and reuse of the historic Flatiron Building.
It's good to keep in mind that Cony High School lost accreditation a few years ago in large part because its location at a busy traffic circle was deemed inappropriate as a school site. Times have changed immensely in the 200 years since the land was deeded to the city for that purpose. It's also important to note that the complex purchase and sale agreement reserves full discretion to the planning board for approval of every element of the project, including neighborhood compatibility.
The planning board is exercising great care in scrutinizing the proposal, and is determined to find the appropriate balance between good growth and the high quality of life we all want for Maine's capital city.
Sale of a special property can't be treated as a regular business transaction
By William Johnson
President, East Side Neighborhood Network, Augusta
The Augusta Planning Board is currently reviewing a proposal by CB Richard Ellis/The Boulos Co. and Hannaford Bros. Co. to rezone the current Cony High School property from its designation as a medium density residential and business zone to a commercial zone in order to build a supermarket on the site. Despite the city's approval of the transaction, numerous Augusta citizens oppose the sale based on several concerns.
Three Augusta residents, including this writer, have brought a lawsuit before the Kennebec County Superior Court alleging that the city is ignoring legally defined processes for disposing of school property. According to Title 20-A, Sections 4102 and 4103 of the Maine Revised Statues Annotated, a municipality may own school property, but the school board controls that property until it is no longer needed. Title 20-A requires several steps: The property must be declared surplus or unneeded, the school board must vote to turn over control of the property to the municipality, and the municipal governing body has to vote to accept the control. None of the foregoing has occurred, and we contend that none of these steps can occur until the school closes in 2006. The city argues that the purchase and sales agreement with the buyers contains contingencies that address these concerns, but we contend that since the city does not control the property it does not have authority to enter into a contract.
Augusta municipal government also has other obligations to fulfill before it sells school property. Past practice for disposing of city-owned school property requires the establishment of a committee of citizens and municipal officials to determine the highest and best for the property's future. This practice was, in fact, followed this year when a committee labored to determine the highest and best use for the closed Buker Junior High School. By sidestepping this requirement, Augusta's municipal government has shut its citizens out of an important part of the process.
The Cony High School property has a long and important role in Augusta's history. In 1815, Dr. Daniel Cony donated the original parcel. Over time, numerous benefactors donated additional parcels to support public educational, athletic and recreational activities on the site. In 1908, the Kennebec County Superior Court conveyed the property to the city for the purpose of maintaining a public high school for all of Augusta's children. The conveyance, with deed restrictions, required the property be maintained in a perpetual charitable trust for the original purposes of educational, athletic and recreational activities. The City of Augusta has filed a lawsuit to have those deed restrictions lifted.
This is no insignificant matter. The deal between the city and the buyers is not merely a business transaction between two legal entities as the city likes to characterize it. The property is owned by the citizens of Augusta to be held in a perpetual charitable trust. That is why two descendants of Dr. Cony are challenging the city's efforts to remove the deed restrictions.
A third and major objection revolves around the planned construction of a supermarket on the Cony property, which has galvanized the majority of the opposition to the sale. The supermarket, if constructed, will be sited a stone's throw away from residences on the opposite side of Cony Street. Nowhere else in Augusta is there such a large business so deeply embedded in a neighborhood. Neighbors are concerned about the traffic that the business will generate, the store's long hours of operation and the commotion it would bring, the potential for a negative influence on property values, and the incompatibility of such an establishment with the surrounding neighborhood.
Even planning board members, the city planner and a hired consulting planner acknowledge that there are difficult problems associated with traffic and neighborhood compatibility. Opponents raise other objections over the project's failure, in their view, to meet site review criteria, land use ordinances and agreement with established plans such as the city's growth management plan and the Capital Riverfront Improvement District Plan. In short, a Hannaford supermarket is the wrong project for the site.
The citizens opposed to this project are most concerned about maintaining the integrity of their neighborhoods, about protecting an important part of Augusta's heritage, and about being assured that their views and interests are genuinely considered by city officials. Unfortunately, many are left with the definite impression that they have been marginalized in the process, and because of this perception the lawsuits and organized opposition have occurred.
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