LEWISTON – After a tumultuous eight-year run, the Creative Photographic Art Center has closed.

City officials locked the doors of the photography school and gallery – housed in the Bates Mill complex – Dec. 19. Board Chairwoman Holly Sanders refused to comment on the closure, except to say she had submitted her resignation that same day.

“I have nothing to say,” she said. “I resigned as board chairman at the end of the semester, the same day the city took over the facility’s space.”

CPAC rented space in Mill No. 2 from the city. It has been a troubled relationship. Since opening in 1995, the art center has been habitually late with rent payments. In recent years, the center has contracted with the University of Maine at Augusta to offer photography classes to UMA students. Even with the university contract, the center couldn’t manage to make ends meet.

The art center was $32,000 in arrears on its rent payments. Additionally, it owed the city $148,000 for a business development loan issued in 1994. The center also owed the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council payments on a $130,000 loan.

It had sought a $789,000 business development loan during the summer of 2002 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After news reports questioned CPAC’s ability to repay the loan, the application was withdrawn.

“There’s no question that the property provided several benefits to the city and the students from the area,” said Richard Metivier, finance director for the city. “A lot of good came of that. Unfortunately, there were financial issues that caused problems when managing the facility.”

About 120 UMA students who attended classes at the arts center were notified by letter of the center’s closure. Photography classes, which began Monday, are being offered at three other locations, including L.A. College.

“I think this is a temporary situation,” said Sheri Stevens, vice president for administration at UMA, speaking about the scattered locations. “I think we’ll take the spring semester to figure out what to do come fall.”

The majority of classes were transferred to L.A. College, with one class offered in Portland and others in Augusta. UMA offers a two-year degree in photography.

Stevens said the university had been notified in early December about the board’s decision to close the art center.

“We went ahead and made different arrangements,” she said. She said the decision to locate most of the photography classes at L.A. College was intended to cut down on the inconvenience to area students.

The art center was started by J. Michel Patry, a successful local commercial photographer. Patry retired from the center last spring, citing health reasons.

His successor, James Daigle, was fired in October by the CPAC board. At the time, Sanders said there was a creative difference in opinion about the direction the school should be going between the board and Daigle. In an interview this fall, Daigle said he was let go because the school was in dire straits and he was pushing for change.

“That organization was a mess since Day 1,” he said.

Metivier said the status of the city’s debt would be reviewed by the Loan Qualification Committee.

“Nothing’s been forgiven or forgotten,” said Metivier. “It remains on the books.”

[email protected]