CUMMINGTON — Plans for the reuse of the town’s old elementary school are at a pivotal stage, with a $1 million state grant hanging in the balance and another $1 million federal grant set to fund the first phase of redevelopment.
Select Board members have circulated a petition urging residents to sign on in support of the board’s request for money through the state’s economic development bill.
Sen. Paul Mark included the $1 million grant in the Senate’s version of the bill. The Senate approved it and the bill is now in conference committee. If it passes, it will go to Gov. Maura Healey for her signature.
“The advocacy of our town residents is vital to this request,” the Select Board stated in a post on the town website. “Please, please make every effort to sign this petition.”
Board member June Lynds said plans for the old Berkshire Trail Elementary School come with a $5.35 million price tag, according to a feasibility study. Construction documents alone are likely to cost $400,000.
State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa included a $6 million request in the House version of the economic development bill, but that was rejected.
The town wants to move its municipal offices, including the town clerk, Board of Health and Select Board, from the Community House to the school. The old school library is still in place and may become an extension of the Bryant Free Library, she said, and the internet hub would remain.
The main reason for the relocation of the municipal offices is to make them more accessible, Lynds said. The Community House would then revert to its original use as a community center, with an expanded senior center.
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The rest of the school building would be converted into commercial rental space. Already lined up to take over the kitchen and cafeteria area is Hilltown Community Development.
Executive Director Dave Christopolis said he has been working with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern to secure a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to set up a “food hub” at the school.
The nonprofit has been operating its food program from the store at Worthington’s Sawyer Farm, where it sells meat, dairy and vegetables it buys from some 35 area farmers. During the growing season, the CDC makes food deliveries, and also supplies free food to those in need.
“Now we’re doing drawings for the kitchen” at the school, Christopolis said.
The grant will pay for new equipment, such as a flash freezer, convection oven, and a big walk-in cooler, as well as upgrades to the building infrastructure.
The goal is to get into the building by the end of the year, Christopolis said.
“If we succeed, we’ll have a walk-in grocery store, with produce, meat, dairy, grains, and a delivery service,” he said. “We’d be the anchor tenant.”
Plans include subletting the kitchen to those interested in using it.
Lynds said the town and Christopolis have been working closely on the plans.
“The project is as much about saving that building as it is about our commercial kitchen,” Christopolis said.
He said he has spent some time looking at vacant properties in the Hilltowns with an eye to their reuse, and “this is the No. 1 building we should be paying attention to.”
The brick school, built in the 1950s, is still solid, with a new roof approved by voters at a cost of $500,000 in 2016. It will need sprinklers and a new heating and cooling system, though. It has been costing the town $40,000 in upkeep yearly, Lynds said.
“What I want legislators to know is that there are folks in town who’ve spent a lot of time working on figuring out how to get the school back on line, and generate some revenue from rents,” Christopolis said.
It’s a political issue, he said, noting that schools are there for everybody, and even if it’s no longer needed for that purpose, that’s no reason to leave it abandoned.
“In my view, state government has a role to play in helping the town transform from one era to another,” he said.
Since the Central Berkshire Regional School District ordered Berkshire Trail closed in 2015 because of declining enrollment, Cummington’s younger schoolchildren have attended any one of a number of area elementary schools or have been home-schooled. Some chose to accept the district’s alternative of a bus ride to Craneville Elementary in Dalton, 20 miles away.
“Closing that school, it really did hit the town hard,” Lynds said.
Now, with some financial support — the town has received an anonymous $150,000 donation to be put toward any reuse it envisions — Cummington can at least see a future for the one-time community hub.
“We’re a lot closer than we were,” Lynds said. “We’ve got some advocacy work to do.”
