SOUTH DEERFIELD — South Deerfield Congregational Church intends to give its building to the town, creating the possibility of a new senior center and subsidized senior housing.
Town Administrator Wendy Foxmyn announced the church’s intentions at Wednesday night’s Selectboard meeting.
If all goes as planned, the South County Senior Center, covering Sunderland, Whately and Deerfield, will move next door to the church at 71 North Main St., and its current 67 North Main St. building will be renovated for subsidized senior housing units.
“It was our will and intent to gift the town our building and our land,” church member Jack Cooper said in a phone call after the meeting. “There’s a long history of churches in New England being known as a house for the town — and that’s been true for (our) church’s 198 years.”
The church is assessed by the town at about $1.1 million, although the parish’s private appraisal pegged the value at $145,000.
Congregation members voted to give the building to the town last July. Hard assets owned by the church have been given to other churches, Cooper said.
“The idea is, we’re going to move the seniors over as soon as we can,” Selectboard Chairwoman Carolyn Shores Ness said.
As it stands now, Cooper said as an organization, South Deerfield Congregational Church hasn’t disbanded according to state records, even though the congregation is no longer meeting for worship services. Because of that, Cooper said the church is legally allowed to give the building to the town.
If the church was no longer listed by the state, the building’s fate would be decided by Mass. Attorney General Maura Healey’s office.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Shores Ness outlined intentions to convert the current senior center — the former Grammar School building — into a small subsidized senior housing project. The units would meet state law Chapter 40B’s housing quota, which says at least 10 percent of a town’s housing should be subsidized, or fall under special planning regulations.
“The idea is to build as many small units, cheery, light — truly subsidized. In other words, no matter what your income is, you’ll only pay 30 percent of your monthly income,” she said, but noted there is a chance plans could fall through.
Shores Ness continued, “We’re following Sunderland, and we’re hoping to do a (request for proposals) similar to that, and use some of our CPA funding to make sure we have absolutely sure subsidized senior housing.”
For all of this to work, the church building might have to be repaired and brought up to safety code. Shores Ness estimated renovation and repair costs, as investigated by Selectman Henry “Kip” Komosa, at $150,000 to $200,000.
To that end, the chairwoman highlighted the board’s intention to ask Deerfield constituents to approve money for that purpose at this year’s town meeting scheduled for April 24. Cooper noted that once conveyance paperwork is filed, town voters must also pass a motion to accept the property.
If both motions are successful, Shores Ness said the town would be in a position to move the senior center later this year, with the subsidized housing project following in 2018.
Throughout the process, Shores Ness highlighted a desire to maintain the historic nature of both buildings, and that the town would turn oversight of the subsidized housing over to the Franklin County Regional Housing Authority if the project becomes a reality.
While there’s still a lot of work to do, she said, “everything is coming together, and I’m so excited. It’s going to be an intense schedule, but I think people will feel really gratified that our goal is here, and we’re going to get it. We’re really determined to do this, and it will come together really fast.”
In order to facilitate the proposed move, the three-member board unanimously voted to appoint Richard Calisewski, the town’s building inspector, John Nove, chairman of the Historical Commission, and Deborah Dachos to the Senior Center Committee.
“We need to get a committee together get answers,” Foxmyn said about the new appointees. “This is very focused now on how we get from here to there.”
Foxmyn pointed out that applications for Community Preservation Act funds are due March 1.
You can reach Andy Castillo
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