Leavitt Institute Building controversy continues
TURNER – Controversy has followed the use of the Leavitt Institute Building for more than a year, but on Saturday at annual town meeting, voters said the people who saved and renovated it should have the power to negotiate contracts for its use.
Selectmen will still have the final approval or disapproval on lease contracts for the historic building but the outcome of a 10-year leasing agreement made with SAD 52 last year is now in doubt.
“We negotiated what was good for the school district and what was good for the town,” former SAD 52 Director Jerry Dubois said. “I don’t think there will be any other negotiated settlement with SAD 52 and this will mean the school district will have to build a new facility to house district offices and it will mean a loss of lease revenue to help support the Institute building.”
Selectmen had leased one and one-half floors of the building to SAD 52 for $3 per square foot and opponents contended it was too little. The contract was negotiated and signed but was contingent upon voters giving selectmen the authority to enter into contracts for town-owned buildings. The article, as amended and passed, also reinstates the Leavitt Institute Building Committee that had resigned en masse over the disagreement.
The vote of 91 to 62 followed over an hour of emotional debate. The school district had agreed as part of the lease agreement to rebuild the parking lot and add 20 additional spaces for town use. No one could answer what effect the vote would have on that part of the agreement. Nor could anyone say what will occur in the future since the school district provides the building’s water and sewer, does the daily maintenance and janitorial work and pays a majority of the utilities.
Approval of the town’s new comprehensive plan was given on a vote of 68 to 42 but not without lengthy discussion centering on a provision that was removed March 18 at a poorly attended public hearing. The provision would have set the basis for a town ordinance limiting access to commercial properties through residential neighborhoods. Discussion at the hearing and town meeting addressed one particular area on Kennebec Trail where a road may be put through to access Northland Plaza on Route 4. Residents of the Kennebec Trail area protested the removal of that protection but were told that they could not modify the plan and would have to vote the entire document down.
Comprehensive Plan Committee Chairman Mike Gotto explained that there were other provisions which might be able to stop such a road but that the removed provision is the only thing that would definitely prevent it. He asked voters not to throw out four years of work over the one provision.
“Just because you spent so much time working on it doesn’t justify approving it, if it is a bad plan,” Adam Schenck said. He was referring not only to the commercial access dispute but also to the fact that the State Planning Office has, at two different times in the process, expressed dissatisfaction with the plan.
Plaza owner Jeff Timberlake told the group that he viewed removal of the provision as “preserving his rights to use his land” and stated that too many rights have already been lost. Timberlake, who is a member of the Comprehensive Plan Committee, voted at the public hearing to remove the provision with the final vote at three in favor and two opposed.
Citizens spent little time or discussion on the money articles and approved the purchase of a new “Jaws of Life” for the fire department as well as $25,000 to repair the old Town House and $350,000 for road paving and construction.
Ike Goodwin served as moderator for the three-hour meeting and 159 registered voters attended.
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