By Josh LaBella
Voice Reporter
The city is continuing in its attempt to sell two school buildings which are no longer in use. A hoped-for sale to the West Haven Housing Authority fell through recently, forcing officials to look elsewhere.
Fred A. Messore, the commissioner of planning and development for West Haven, said requests for proposals (RFP’s) for the Edgar C. Stiles and Thompson Schools went out last month and the deadline for them was Monday. He said the West Haven Housing Authority had looked into Thompson school before he was hired by the city.
“I think there was an option on it that was granted to the Housing Authority,” said Messore. “With the idea that they could possible partner up with a developer to do a proposal. I think they did a pretty extensive review into that process because they had put together a set of plans.”
John Counter, the executive director of the West Haven Housing Authority, said the plans included 55 units of housing. He said the project would have aimed to support the elderly, disabled and veteran population of the city but they were not able to get tax credits for funding.
Messore said the development agreement with the housing authority expired at the end of 2018. He said the Municipal Accountability Review Board has recommended that the city try and sell off some of their assets, these buildings included.
“I looked at it as an opportunity to put these two properties back out to the market and see what the market would dictate in terms of a development readapted use for these properties,” said Messore. “That’s where we’re at now.”
According to Messore, they did a walk through with people interested in the schools in Dec. and questions came in Jan. 8 as part of the RFP. He said the request will be sent into the purchaser’s office by Jan 15. He said he thinks the city is looking for proposals that coincide with what their ideas and visions are as well as what zoning would allow.
David Killeen, the assistant city planner, said Stiles School is located in an area identified as a transit oriented district because of its proximity to the train station. He said this is competitive with other communities in the area because it allows for a higher density for development. He said Thompson School, which is in a public facilities district, is a bit harder.
“It envisions predominately government type uses,” said Killeen. “A few years ago, when the proposal came in from Housing Authority, we provided relief by modifying the public facilities district to accommodate a certain amount of housing. We may have to go back and retool that. It depends on what proposals come in.”
Messore said they had a good response though the process of the RFP and are just waiting to see the written responses. He said eight groups visited Stiles School and five groups looked at Thompson School, with some overlap.
Both Stiles and Thompson were closed in a revamp of the city’s school system a decade ago. The system downsized the number of elementary schools, and combined all its sixth grade students into Carrigan, which was one of two middle schools prior to the consolidation. Sixth graders all attend the Allingtown campus before going over to Bailey.