WHATELY — It’s back to the drawing board for the former Whately Center School, as a request for proposals (RFP) to conduct a feasibility study on the 115-year-old building received zero responses.

The town issued the RFP in February in an effort to seek a contractor to undertake a study to identify what repairs are needed for the Chestnut Plain Road building, as well as come up with some conceptual designs for reuse. The RFP, which capped bids at $28,000, closed on March 31.

The matter, which will likely come before the Selectboard as official business at its April 30 meeting, was brought up in Town Administrator Peter Kane’s report during Wednesday’s meeting.

“The Center School Committee will need to reconvene to determine how to move forward,” Kane, who was absent from the meeting, wrote in his report. “We have to at least re-look at that.”

Center School Committee II member Judy Markland said the committee has yet to reconvene and discuss next steps, but the $28,000 price tag and time of year may have been among the reasons nobody submitted bids. The town received a $14,000 National Trust for Historic Preservation grant, which was supplemented with residents’ approval of $14,000 in Community Preservation Act funds.

“The economic environment is so uncertain,” Markland said, adding that municipal projects can often be a “hassle” when compared to private ones. “My assumption is it just wasn’t enough money and that also everybody’s really busy right now.”

When the committee gets together to discuss next steps, potential ideas include providing more money for the feasibility study, likely through more CPA funds; seeking state grants or historic preservation tax credits; and fleshing out repair estimates.

This is the second time an RFP for the Whately Center School has garnered no interest, as a 2022 request to lease the building out to a developer failed to draw any attention. In 2023, the town released an RFP to sell the building and received two responses, but ultimately voted against selling the school in March 2024, as the Center School Committee felt it could come up with a better use for the building than private residences.

The building, originally built in 1910 and vacant since 2018, is showing “significant signs of deterioration,” according to the RFP. Necessary repairs include structural support for the slate roof, masonry repairs for the front steps and window restoration.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.