Above: The Committee the Select Board had formed to solicit public feedback and make recommendations on future use of an historic, Town-owned building is being dropped while municipal buildings are “in limbo” following the failed votes on the Neary Building Project. (images cropped from past Town flyer and Town website)
Last week, the majority of the Select Board voted against extending the charge for the ad hoc committee researching potential future uses of the former South Union School Building at 21 Highland Street. The committee has yet to hold a public forum as required. And it is unlikely to be ready to issue recommendations on the building’s future use.
The committee has one more meeting scheduled for tomorrow night, and a charge that expires on Monday.
The committee is charged with making recommendations to the Select Board on the future use of the building and property. That was based on the expectation that the building’s current use (for Southborough Youth & Family Services and Southborough Recreation staff) wouldn’t be needed in a few years.
Though not detailed in the charge, the intent was for the committee to brainstorm and research options for alternate uses, and solicit and incorporated public feedback, especially from area residents. (You can read the full charge here.)
At last Tuesday’s Select Board meeting, committee Chair Freddie Gillespie explained that the work had been slowed down because of the uncertainty of the Neary Building project. If the project had been approved by voters, the Select Board had intended to relocate the Southborough Recreation Department to a repurposed Finn School.
With the school building project, and potential domino effects, still undetermined, the committee’s work was in limbo. It had yet to hold any public forums or issue surveys. The committee requested a six month extension.
Select Board members questioned how anything would be cleared up enough on the school building front within six months to make a difference. Member Kathy Cook, who had publicly opposed creating the committee, argued that the committee had always been “putting the cart before the horse”. She advocated for letting the committee dissolve then appointing a new one in the future if needed.
Responding to Gillespie’s request to continue their work, Select Board Chair Andrew Dennington noted:
I would feel more comfortable with this requested extension if we had had some kind of track record of deliverables that we had gotten in the interim that made me feel more satisfied that there was progress being made and I know the interim report that we got did not really have much substance.
Committee member Kristen LaVault objected to the “knock”, saying the interim report outlined “the areas we were digging into”. (You can read that report here.)
Select Board member Al Hamilton moved to give the committee an extra month to come back and make a final report to the board. Member Tim Fling supported the motion, but they were outvoted by the other members. In the discussion, members made repeated reference to their desire to reduce the number of Town committees.
Yesterday afternoon, an agenda was posted for the 21 Highland committee to meet this Wednesday, June 25th at 7:00 pm in the South Union building. The agenda includes a discussion on finalizing the report.
As I wrote at the start, I don’t believe the committee is prepared to make recommendations on the building’s future use. However, the final report could include recommendations on steps the Town should take moving forward.
Committee History
The committee was first approved in concept in 2023 following public outcry over the board’s decision to issue an RFP for a Feasibility Study to look into the potential for selling or repurposing the historic building and property.
South side residents petitioned and spoke to the board about the importance of the building and “sledding hill” to the neighborhood. Lobbied by residents seeking a way for the neighborhood to be part of any decision making, the Select Board agreed to create the committee. It included representatives of multiple “stakeholder” boards/committees and at large seats for residents.
The Town’s promotion of the committee volunteer opportunity, and appointing of members was initially delayed. The subsequent recruitment was slow going. It took until late October 2024 for the committee to reach quorum and start its work — less than 6 weeks before their initial charge and final report deadline were set to expire.
That November, the board agreed to extended the deadlines to June 30, 2025, but asked for an interim report to be submitted earlier this year. After that report was issued in February, there were scheduling issues, and multiple delays in meeting with the Select Board. (In last week’s meeting, Gillespie blamed technical issues and a death in her family for some of those delays.)
At an early April meeting, Dennington suggested the board simply accept the report and pass on feedback to the committee instead of continuing to reschedule a discussion. His feedback was that the committee’s work should include looking at options for leasing the property that would have support from the community. (No one else provided any comments.) The board would then wait for the final report to meet with the committee this summer.
On April 21st, in a closed Facebook group used by many Southborough residents, committee member Lisa Braccio posted a flyer encouraging residents to attend a tour of the building the next day with the committee “as we explore and look for your input of the potential best future use(s).” (The doc indicated it was an informational update for Annual Town Meeting, but I never saw it there or publicly posted.)
In last week’s meeting, Dennington highlighted that no minutes have been posted for the four meetings the committee held this year. Gillespie replied that she believed minutes for all but their most recent meeting had been approved and submitted to the Town. (She suggested the unposted docs may have been due to staffing issues in the Town Clerk’s office.)1
Since all of the meetings were held in person with no video recordings, I don’t have more information at this time on what the committee has discussed since the interim report was issued.
