WESTERLY — A community center should operate at the location of the former Tower Street School and a task force should be established to determine whether the current building is adequate or whether a new one should be constructed, the Planning Board states in a recommendation to the Town Council.
The recommendation also calls for subdividing the property, selling 7.5 acres of it, and using proceeds from the sale to sustain the community center in its current building or to build a new, smaller, 20,000-square-foot one at the same site.
The council is expected to discuss the board's recommendation during a meeting scheduled for Monday at 5:35 p.m. at Town Hall. The meeting can also be viewed and the public can participate via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89231582133.
The Planning Board's recommendation came in response to a request from the Town Council, which is considering tearing down the Tower Street School building and selling the 11-ace parcel. State law requires planning boards to be consulted when municipalities consider selling or otherwise disposing of property and buildings.
Control of the Tower Street building reverted to the Town Council after the School Committee voted in May to discontinue use of the building as it looked for a way to close a potential $1.6 million budget gap. The building had operated as a community center since 2009, when it ceased being used as a traditional school. Several tenants and organizations that hosted programs, many for children and adults from low- and moderate-income families, were forced to leave when the Town Council immediately moved to sell the property after the School Committee's vote.
"The fact that this is before us with a request that the use be terminated and the building and property be sold is heartbreaking to me. This building needs to be sustained for the public good," said Planning Board member Joseph M. Montesano, who authored the motion and recommendation approved by the board. He spoke during the board's meeting on Tuesday.
Montesano said he had visited the Tower Street School property several times recently and found basketball and tennis courts in use each time. The property is also used for walking and bird watching, he said.
"It is due to the recent actions of the town and only for that reason has it ceased to be used for the public good, and I think that, in a lot of ways, is reprehensible," Montesano said.
Tina Scofield, a resident who said she had "partnered" with Tower Street Community Center on programming, asked the board to make a positive recommendation to the Town Council. The center offered a range of activities and programs, Scofield said, including a University of Rhode Island culinary program, literacy services, yoga, ping-pong leagues, foreign language instruction, and use by a local church.
"The youth in Westerly need this community center. I've seen wonderful changes in the children who come in. ... There is also adult education there, too. These are leg-up services that benefit everyone in community," Scofield said.
Gina Fuller, a former School Committee and Comprehensive Plan Citizens Advisory Committee member, also spoke in favor of saving the community center. She cautioned the board to closely analyze financial information it received about the center, noting that some of the staff costs were for school district employees who remain on the district payroll and are not direct community center costs. She also noted that earlier estimates on the cost to renovate the building were based on state education requirements for school buildings.
In her role as district manager of the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District, Fuller said she was working with the municipal Recreation Department on a grant that, if approved, would pay for after-school programs at the center. Because of its central location, the center is easy to reach, she said.
"Our low- and moderate-income families that live in that neighborhood are entitled to green space and a place where they can do recreational activities. ... The folks that live in this town that work in the hotels, work in the restaurants, housekeep, do people's lawns and do all the landscaping are as entitled to recreation and leisure as those on the shoreline, and I think it's important to remember that," Fuller said.
The board approved Montesano's motion unanimously. Montesano said he developed his recommendation with an eye toward balancing the need for keeping the community center and the budget pressures the Town Council is facing.
Board member Christopher Lawlor said he was concerned the Town Council had not demonstrated "any concern about the effect on the community and the neighborhood" of closing the community center permanently.
"The center was not closed because it's unsuitable or ceased to be used for public purposes; it closed because the School Committee wanted it off their budget," Lawlor said.
Max Hence, co-founder of the Ayers Foundation, which ran a farming and gardening program at the community center, encouraged development of a public-private partnership to run the center in the future. He said the center fulfilled a valuable need.
"A center like that makes Westerly whole. To take it away from the people is just outright robbery," Hence said.
Friday, Town Council President Christopher Duhamel said he hoped the council would hear from Town Manager J. Mark Rooney, Director of Development Services Lisa Pellegrini and Planning Board Chairman James Hall IV on Monday.
"There have been a lot of questions and discussions which the Town Council will ultimately act on. ... I'd like to talk about the different options we have and talk about whether the town needs a community center," Duhamel said.
Tuesday, Hall encouraged Hence and others to provide the council with details on their proposals as well as information about an online petition established to show support for the center. There were 775 signatures on the petition as of Saturday afternoon.
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