HEATH – Should the town sell its shuttered school to a marijuana farm?
Residents can vote Wednesday to decide.
Selectboard and Finance Committee members supported selling the former school to a cannabis company at a Tuesday meeting. They said the sale would benefit Heath financially – and the marijuana company, Carnegie Arch, LLC, was the only bidder. The company bid $250,000 for the building, with plans to cultivate, manufacture and possibly sell marijuana.
If Heath accepts the offer, it will receive $250,000 in sale proceeds; $100,000 in leftover maintanence funds from the school district; about $10,000 in tax revenue per year; and between 1 to 3 percent of the business’s profits, as part of a state-mandated Community Host Agreement. Also, Carnegie will create about 20 jobs.
“In my view, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Selectboard member Gloria Cronin Fisher said. “It’s sort of really out in the middle of nowhere … it’s going to cost the town money – and someone comes knocking on your door and wants to buy it?”
While supportive of the sale, officials said they understood the building’s sentimental value to Heath.
“I’m actually very conflicted about this, losing this building,” Selectboard Chairman Brian DeVriese said. However, DeVriese conceded that the bid “is something that’s coming along … that does provide a revenue stream.”
Some residents offered alternatives to selling the building, officials said, including demolishing it, ceasing maintenance, moving Sawyer Hall there, and keeping the former school in case it needed to reopen.
Officials said many of these alternatives were unrealistic. They argued relocating Sawyer Hall is unneccessary as the school is three times its size and Heath doesn’t need the extra space. Officials also agreed Heath was unlikely to need its own school as its population is too small, and its closure representated a trend for rural schools.
The special Town Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday. Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. in Heath Community Hall. A story published Friday incorrectly stated the meeting date. View the warrant here: http://www.townofheath.org/tcms/tiki-calendar_edit_item.php?viewcalitemId=349.
You can reach Grace Bird at:
gbird@recorder.com
413 772 0261 ext. 280