WEST LEBANON — City officials are again eyeing the former Seminary Hill School as a potential home for a community center that they say could spur development and benefit residents in West Lebanon.
Mayor Tim McNamara last week asked members of the School Board to consider transferring the three-story brick building — which now houses the school district’s administrative offices — over to the city.
Under his plans, the city would pay to renovate the structure and install heating upgrades estimated to cost about $500,000. Lebanon’s Recreation, Arts and Parks Department would then move in and SAU 88 would pay a “nominal fee” to continue using the office space, he said.
McNamara, a West Lebanon native, said the property transfer would extend the city’s presence to the neighborhood and also provide a permanent home for recreation staff.
Lebanon’s recreation offices were moved to River Valley Community College’s Lebanon Mall campus to make room for the recent $6.7 million City Hall renovation project.
The former school building would be a good fit for those staffers because of its location near key recreation sites, including the nearby Civic Memorial Park and John Bryar Field, according to McNamara. The building, which was also previously West Lebanon High School, also has a gymnasium.
He said the move also would place recreation staff along the future route of the Mascoma River Greenway and down the street from the Westboro Rail Yard, where more playing fields are being planned alongside a multipurpose path that could extend to the Wilder Dam.
“We would like to have a real robust city presence open to the public in downtown West Lebanon, City Hall 2 for lack of a better term,” McNamara said during a Thursday evening meeting of the School District / City Council Task Force.
Recreation advocates have for years said that Lebanon needs a city-run community center that could house additional programs and act as a meeting space. Last year, 63% of those who answered an online survey said they “fully support” investing in the development of a community center.
The Seminary Hill School proposal is supported by the city’s West Lebanon Revitalization Advisory Committee and Economic Development Commission, which both hope that a community center would help lead a transformation of the downtown area.
City Councilor Jim Winny, who chairs the West Lebanon committee, said he wants to see the area become more walkable and can picture people attending an event at the future community center before walking down the street to eat dinner or get ice cream.
“Most businesses in downtown West Lebanon are right now sort of … they’re not destination businesses. They’re the place you go to if you need auto parts or whatever,” he said.
While redevelopment of Main Street may be in order, Winny said, there’s little the city can do without partners like the school district. Lebanon owns the Kilton Public Library, fire station and a small lot in the neighborhood but those are either fully built out or sit on “postage-stamp-size lots” that can’t be leveraged for larger changes, he said.
School Board members appeared supportive of the idea but said they’d first need to determine whether there’s enough room for both recreation staff and the school district offices.
“I think the idea is very interesting and I think it’s something that’s definitely worth talking about and taking it to the next level,” School Board Chairman Dick Milius said.
He did, however, say that officials should be cautious of giving away property, citing how past sales of former school buildings were able to fund improvements elsewhere.
The Seminary Hill School stopped housing classes in 2014, during a school consolidation that saw the school district sell the old Sacred Heart School building, divest from four properties and close the Sacred Heart and School Street schools.
That move left Lebanon with its current school structure: two elementary schools, the new Lebanon Middle School and the high school.
Shortly after, Lebanon Recreation Director Paul Coats advocated for turning the Seminary Hill School’s second floor, which includes the gymnasium, into a community center. He then formed a nonprofit called “Friends of Recreation” to help to raise funds for the transition and a group of city leaders soon sat down for negotiations with the school district.
At the time, SAU 88 planned only to occupy the third floor and hoped to build an expansion onto the Hanover Street School that could house additional operations.
But when that addition never happened, the school district opted to use more of the building for its own offices and negotiations ended.
McNamara said on Monday that he is hopeful talks will be different this time around, partially because the city would take a costly heating system upgrade off the school district’s hands.
His proposal also is “more expansive” and would lead to more use of the school’s gym, auditorium and offices, McNamara said.
“It’s more of a holistic program now that involves the entire building,” he said.
The City Council is expected to further discuss the building proposal during its Wednesday, June 2 meeting. It would then issue a formal proposal that would be vetted by the School Board.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.