Groton ― A group of residents say the preservation of the Groton Heights School building and the addition of more open space on the western side of town should be priorities as the town begins looking again at how to reuse the school as well as the Pleasant Valley School.

Resident Barbara A. Nagy said at a public hearing Tuesday that she is in favor of selling or giving the former Groton Heights School building at 244 Monument St. to a qualified developer with the stipulation that the core school building remains and its exterior appearance preserved.

“The Groton Heights School is an important part of the fabric of the neighborhood and hopefully is sturdy enough to have withstood the damage caused since its closure,” she said.

Nagy said the circa 1912 building was designed by architect Dudley St. Clair Donnelly, who designed more than 50 buildings in the region that include the Dewart and Manwaring buildings in downtown New London, four buildings at Connecticut College in New London, the Tyler House at Eastern Point Beach, and the Groton Congregational Church.

Several residents also spoke in favor of a potential land swap between the town and the adjacent Bill Memorial Library for two small land parcels.

A plan to sell the Groton Heights School property, which closed in 2007, to Groton-based marine technology company ThayerMahan fell through last year. A potential developer for the former Pleasant Valley School, which closed in 2017, at 380 Pleasant Valley Road South, near Route 12, also decided not to move forward.

The Town Council last year approved a new process for deciding the reuse of its vacant, town-owned properties. Town Manager John Burt said the process is designed to treat all the vacant school properties equitably.

City Mayor Keith Hedrick said he is in favor of the town placing Groton Heights back on the tax rolls and supports development, whether high-tech commercial, similar to ThayerMahan, or residential.

Resident Michael Boucher said the former Colonel Ledyard School in the city and the former William Seely School off Route 12 are approved for apartments. He said he’d like to see minimal redevelopment at Groton Heights, preferably just the original school building with as much open space as possible.

Boucher said he is concerned about a trend of converting closed school sites in more diverse neighborhoods into apartments while schools in less diverse areas are favored for parks and open space.

Resident Ann Doyle said her first choice was to have ThayerMahan’s proposal, but her top priority is seeing something that is well designed and won’t greatly increase traffic in the neighborhood.

Pleasant Valley

Tom Olson, representing the town’s Conservation Commission, read aloud comments written in 2021 by its chairman, Larry Dunn, in support of the town’s efforts to put the Pleasant Valley School property on the market for redevelopment. Dunn wrote that the area directly around the school property can be developed for commercial use and has many nearby housing developments.

He said the property does not build on the commission’s greenway conservation plan and its open space value was calculated by the commission as low in terms of the properties the town is considering for redevelopment. But the property has more than eight acres of forest canopy in the rear, and the development of the property should be carbon neutral.

Beatrice Mills, on behalf of Groton Conservation Advocates, detailed the variety of tree species on the Pleasant Valley property.

“We urge the town not to sell the portion of the property that is forested but to preserve it as much-needed open space on the west end of Groton,” Mills wrote in a letter.

Shawn Powers, a Representative Town Meeting member representing District 4, where the school property is located, cited a 2023 update to the town’s housing market study that says the housing demand in Groton will be up to 6,450 new units over the next decade.

Powers said he’s a firm believer that the town needs to do something with all its former schools and needs to generate income to keep its tax base balanced and to supply the housing needs of employees at the submarine base, Electric Boat and Pfizer.

Burt said Friday that he anticipates the Town Council will take up discussions in the next month or so on what direction to give town staff.

If the council decides to move forward, staff would take the council’s direction and write draft Requests for Proposals for the properties, which could include any stipulations the council places for the reuse of the property. The RFP would then be sent to the RTM and Planning and Zoning Commission for comments.

A committee, appointed by the mayor, would review any proposals received and send a recommendation to the council. The process would include a second public hearing and a review of comments from the Planning and Zoning Commission, according to the policy. If the council makes a recommendation to sell or lease the property, it would then be forwarded to the RTM.

k.drelich@theday.com