New Stevens School owner Matt Morrill will host a site walk on his 54-acre property starting at 5 p.m. Monday in Hallowell. The walk is being held in advance of Thursday’s special Planning Board meeting on proposed ordinance changes related to the campus.
Morrill, of Grand View Log and Timber Frames in Winthrop, bought the property from the state in April for $215,000; and since the deal was completed, he said he’s been busy trying to find tenants for some of the existing buildings and coming up with a long-term plan for the entire campus.
The Stevens School campus is in its own zoning district, and in order for Morrill to market the existing building to potential tenants, ordinance changes would have to happen quickly, Mayor Mark Walker said last month.
The proposed ordinance changes to Section 9-388, which addresses permitted uses in the Stevens School Planned Development District, adds residential uses approved by the Planning Board as part of an Open Space Development and allows for the re-use of existing structures for business and professional offices or residential uses. Morrill said in May that he already has received inquiries from potential tenants about leasing some of the buildings.
“Without any ordinance changes, the campus will be vacant this winter, creating no income for the new owner,” Councilor Alan Stearns said via email. “I expect the council to continue to vote to breathe new life into the campus, and I’ll ask the Planning Board to concur.”
The other two amendments to the ordinance include changes to dimensional requirements of new structures and additions to existing structures and a change to the requirement of a master plan.
The campus has been in Hallowell since it was built in the late 1870s as a boarding school for girls, and in 2010, the City Council included it in its Comprehensive Plan, saying “the redevelopment of the Stevens School property will be the single-most important new development in Hallowell in the coming decade.” The plan laid out several goals for the property, including the resolution of all existing environmental problems, retention of as much open space as possible and establishing a mix of uses on the site.
Morrill told the council in May that he envisions a combination of affordable housing, senior housing, market-rate condominiums, commercial and retail space and a small residential subdivision. He already has been in contact with people in the affordable-housing industry and has been approached about selling some of the nine buildings he owns on the property.
“We need to learn from the experience of the failed effort to redevelop Augusta’s arsenal,” Stearns said. “None of us wants (the Stevens School’s) buildings to be mothballed any longer.”
In Augusta’s case, a North Carolina developer bought the old Kennebec Arsenal — a series of buildings on the city’s east side — in 2007 and promised to redevelop them for residential and business uses. But the latest work on the property occurred in 2013, when new roofs were installed on several of the historic buildings to protect them from further decay.
Hallowell’s council has known for years that existing ordinances related to the campus were one reason why developers declined to bid on the property, Stearns said.
“We sent a clear message to the real estate market through council resolutions included in the most recent bid documents that the council would approach the ordinances flexibly,” Stearns said. “The pending ordinance changes are the way to make good on that commitment to the new owner of the campus.”
In connection with all of the complex issues related to Stevens School, the Planning Board asked the council to approve having a historical consultant on retainer to aid in some of the decisions the board expects to have to make in the future.
Mark Eyerman, of Planning Decisions Inc. in Portland, has worked with the Planning Board in Hallowell in the past, including on some ordinances, and said he will be available to help on anything regarding Stevens School.
Jason Pafundi — 621-5663
Twitter: @jasonpafundiKJ
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