The Scarborough Board of Education has given preliminary approval for transferring the Bessey School property to the town for the future use of by the YMCA, though the board has not yet discussed the district’s future school needs with the Town Council.
The final decision will be made later this year after the town and YMCA reach a lease agreement for the property.
“The school board is prepared to move forward in this as soon as details can be worked out and confirmed with the Town Council,” said board Chairman David Beneman.
The school board had been waiting to turn the property over, until it discussed with the Town Council several building options to handle overcrowding at the Scarborough Middle School and an aging Wentworth Intermediate School. Beneman wanted to have the Bessey property under school control during of negotiations with the council.
When it became clear that a meeting with the council could not be held until next month, the board agreed to give conceptual approval Thursday, to keep a timeline set with the YMCA this fall.
YMCA officials have outlined a number of benefits for the school district once the Y is built. The YMCA would provide every third- and fourth-grade student free swimming lessons. The YMCA also has agreed to give the high school and middle school “home pool” status, which provides for priority scheduling and allows the teams to use the pool as their home field.
The organization also will work with the district to provide students a way to leave school and safely arrive at the Scarborough Y. How this will be done has not been finalized at this point, according to Cyrus Hagge, chairman of the Cumberland County YMCA Board of Directors. Some possibilities include having crossing guards or providing some sort of transportation. The long-range plan is to build a crosswalk over Route 1.
The YMCA also will work with the town to complement the services now offered, Hagge said. For example, the YMCA normally provides before- and after-school care and if the town chose to no longer offer those services, the YMCA would start a program.
“We will not go after any program the town is doing in an attempt to undermine the town,” Hagge said.
Finally, the YMCA said it would work with the town to build a playing field on the portion of the property abutting Commerce Drive if it is feasible.
The school department owns the property and must agree to transfer it to the town before the town can relinquish it to another entity. Currently the district is using the building for storage. It also is being used by Ruth’s Resuable Resources, which also is searching for a new location.
It is likely the town will enter into a lease with the YMCA. In August the Town Council unanimously voted to have Town Manager Ron Owens work with the school district to transfer the property for future use as a YMCA.
“We are fully in favor of leasing the property to the YMCA,” said Town Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer. “We have already stated it publicly – all seven of us – to lease it to the YMCA.”
The board’s decision comes at a “critical junction” for the YMCA planning process, according to Neil Jamieson, a member of the YMCA Steering Committee and Campaign Committee.
Jamieson said the fund-raising campaign is moving ahead and the YMCA has received six-figure pledges that are contingent upon the Bessey School property being transferred.
The lack of a definite site would slow down further fund-raising efforts because the YMCA loses credibility if it cannot tell people where the building would be located, he said.
Jamieson said if the district would not release the property then the YMCA would have to look for a parcel to purchase, which would increase the total cost of the project and potentially frighten some donors away.
“It inhibits us from going to other donors,” he said. “That’s really going to hinder it. It could be a fatal blow to the project.”
Also included in the YMCA’s plan is converting the Bessey School building itself into senior apartments. Housing Initiatives of New England would undertake the project.
Cindy Taylor, executive director for the organization, said the project would be funded in part by state or federal grants and in order to apply she too needs to have an answer regarding the property’s availability.
She figures that 50 to 60 units would have to be built in order to make the project feasible and said her organization will have to approach the town for a zone change or contract zone in order for the project to move forward.
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