Editorial

By Elizabeth Prata

The Town of Gray will, in September, be asking the citizens if they want to accept Pennell institute property from the SAD. The Council has said that during the month of August they will send out information to educate the public.

Here is some information to begin that education process, Monument-style.

The SAD Board and Gray Town Council, with input from New Gloucester Selectmen, have been working for a year in drafting a Memo of Understanding (MOU) that the SAD can bring to the Attorney General and receive approval for disposing of Pennell Institute. Pennell is a 180- year old building on Lewiston Road that was turned over to the SAD by the Town of Gray when the SAD was formed in the mid-1960s.

Now, after years of deferred maintenance and little use lately, the School Department doesn't need the building anymore and according to the Sinclair Act, must first offer to it to the town in which it resides.

The discussions about Pennell are part of a wider discussion the Town of Gray Councilors and Manager have been putting forth. They say that the current town office is too small and not ADA compliant. In 2002 they asked the citizens for approval to buy the old Post Office for use as a Town Office. Now there are a total of five options for a Town office.

The supporters of the Pennell option say that "saving Pennell" will save a piece of Gray that is near and dear to the hearts of all the alumni who went through that fine old educational institution and would dearly love to see the old building restored.

Others who do not have an emotional tie to that particular piece of property have been asking the following questions, attempting to see where the best decision for the wider populace would be:

Does moving into Pennell with the SAD Administration as tenants solve Gray Town Office's space needs issue?

No. Usable space designated for Gray in Pennell is 3800 square feet, 780 of which is a hallway. (Source, Town Office) Current Town office space is about 3200.

Does it solve the handicapped accessibility problem?
No. As a matter of fact, it gets worse. The town is not necessarily required to renovate any space they currently inhabit to comply with ADA, only to ensure that all programs are accessible to the populace.

However, if the Town moves in to another property they are then required to bring all up to ADA compliance. The upstairs of Pennell is not ADA accessible.

Would the building be structurally viable, efficient, and preserved to the appropriate standards?
No.

The millions of dollars price tag for complete conservation is probably too much for beleaguered taxpayers to bear, and so now the Council is talking about "minimal conversion," or 'just enough to get in there.' Which brings us back to the deferred maintenance…owning an old building that the taxpayers would have to start all over in fixing, and never quite catching up.

Would the costs of having the SAD as tenant be enough to offset capital improvements necessary to minimally maintain Pennell?
No.

The space would be leased to the SAD at below-market value even though market value has not been determined. The rent would be only enough to pay the utilities and a minor fund for current maintenance. And the relationship history of the town with the SAD has been quarrelsome to litigious. They propose to harmoniously occupy space together for the next 30 years, yet in June 2003 it was Gray's lawsuit against the SAD that sparked this whole Pennell discussion. A long-time unfriendly relationship capped with a lawsuit is not a good basis on which to begin a landlord-tenant association.

Has the SAD, the Historical Society, or the Pennell Alumni demonstrated that they have a focused and substantial approach to historic preservation for all historic buildings in the Town of Gray?
No.

Even though the Pennell Institute has been on the National Historic Register since 1982, and the Historical Society has occupied the building for years, there has been no attempt to develop grants, fund-raising, or other methods to preserve or maintain the building by the main stakeholders, the Historical Society.

A five minute Google search on 'historic preservation' unearthed a myriad of programs with State & Federal help, along with money, none of which has been offered as part of an overall cultural preservation approach. By anyone.
Who knows? Abandoning the past five years' work on the buildings on Shaker Road and throwing in together in Pennell could be the best option. But I have not seen it demonstrated.

Unless it is, there are several other town office options that merit closer scrutiny.