Halsey Platt Extends Offer to Purchase Squannacook Hall

Selectmen supported a request from local developer and restorer Halsey Platt to extend his offer to purchase historic Squannacook Hall until May 25. The town-owned building in West Groton village has been vacant for some time and after several Requests for Proposal's (RFPs) Platt came forward with a plan to keep the building which would be converted to house four rental units.

His initial effort to secure approval at town meeting for a Concept Plan that would save the old building was blocked by some members of the abutting Christian Union Church, who used the town property for parking and located a portion of their septic system on town land. Selectmen and Platt have been meeting with representatives of the church to try to resolve some of the issues. In addition Platt is working with the Affordable Housing Trust which is proposing to 'buy down' one of the four units for affordable housing. If this is successful, the full four units would count towards the town's state mandated affordable housing stock number of 10 percent.

Platt asked for some relief from the permitting fees that amount to $2K, but Selectmen indicated that before they decide on this they would like to wait for the result of discussions with the Affordable Housing Trust.

The Board also supported Town Manager Mark Haddad's request to put out another RFP for the Prescott School building, as there is a local business person that is interested in the property. This time, the RFP would be general, with no specifics on how the building should be used. The one exception would be use of the building for housing. The exception was based on the belief that the building had greater value as a commercial location with its prominence on Main Street and that the result of a survey done by the Prescott School RE-Use Committee showed that there was little interest by residents of the town to see this as a location for housing.