BATH — With construction of Bath’s new high school underway, the city wants to hear residents’ ideas on what they should do with the old Morse High School building. However, a gathering Tuesday produced no clear consensus as to what to do with the nearly-century-old building.

Many said at least some of the building should be converted into apartments of some sort to help combat the area’s housing shortage. Some said there aren’t enough mid-market options for those wishing to downsize from a house to a one to two-bedroom apartment or condo. Others said there must be more housing options for the 65-plus age demographic.

According to a 2018 Maine State Housing Authority report, the median price of a home in Bath is $190,000, which requires an income of at least $62,146 to afford. The median income of a Bath resident is $40,611. This means 66% of Bath households are unable to afford the median home price.

Other popular ideas included turning the school’s theater into a movie theater and using some space for a restaurant or other commercial use. A few outliers at the meeting suggested knocking the building down and starting from scratch.

Ben Smith of North Star Planning stressed the idea of adaptive reuse, which is reusing an existing building and altering it to fit today’s needs. The different types of reuse can fit residential, commercial, or public needs, or any mix of the three.

“Whatever happens probably won’t be any one person’s idea,” said Smith.

Some said nostalgia made it hard for them to imagine the building used for any purpose other than the one it was built for.

“I can only ever see that building as a school,” said Troy Cunningham, the Morse High School Alumni Association Historian and class of 1987.

“I’m just glad my daughter and granddaughter both graduated before this,” said Debbie Wing, Morse High School class of 1971.

Myra and Rob Keeble live next to the old Morse High School and will miss hearing the students’ voices every day. They think the building should be repurposed into something that “captures that same vibrancy the students brought to the neighborhood.”

“It’s an old historic building people have a strong attachment to,” said Eric Varney, the high school’s principal.

Attendees at the meeting listed the school’s theater, brick facade and public green space as the top things they would like to see preserved.

Regardless of how the building is repurposed, Varney believes the building’s interior, especially the heating system, needs the most work. In the winters, he would arrive at school early in the morning to make sure the building’s heating system was still running. “The oldest part of the building is in the best shape because of how they built it,” added Varney.

The original Morse High School was built in 1904, named for businessman Charles Morse. It was built with pine, which was oiled frequently, and had a slate roof. It burned down on March 24, 1928. The current school was rebuilt on the same site in 1929 — this time to be as fireproof and structurally sound as possible. Additional classrooms and wings were later added during World War II, and again in 1969 and 1996.

The school’s original location at 826 High St. is a prime location for a residential or commercial building, but it has been a challenging location for a high school. There is limited parking for faculty and students, and there isn’t room for athletic fields on the school campus. These are two things building the new high school’s site in the Wing Farm Business Park will allow.

The new high school building is expected to be completed in December 2020, with move-in set for January 2021.

Those who missed the meeting but would like to contribute their ideas and feedback are encouraged to visit the City of Bath website.

kobrien@timesrecord.com

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