The idea is, it’s always moving — it really is a campus place and something that the town can be very proud of. I think it has a lot of pros to it because it literally becomes independent buildings, independent departments.”

Architect Chris Barkley, on the community campus idea

I feel strongly that we are closer to delivering real options to the voters of Westport than ever before.”

Christopher Thrasher

Doing nothing means you’re going to dispose of it at some point. I think people need to understand the value is far greater to the town than anyone else.”

Cindy Brown

The price tag could be high — as much as $60 million. But architects studying the old high school’s potential future uses say moving town offices there or expanding the massive property into a ‘community center’ is money well spent — and could save the town in the long run.

Representatives from RGB Architects in Providence appeared before the long term building re-use committee earlier this month, sharing with members what they’ve learned about the old school and how they think it could be used in the future, as part of the latest study into the mostly vacant building’s potential.

The last time committee members met to talk about the school, members of the council on aging pitched a “community center” complex that would serve many different constituents in Westport — the young, old, municipal workers, community, arts and theatre groups and the like. At the recent meeting, RGB architects said that idea makes a lot of sense. But given Westport’s well-known aversion to Proposition 2 1/2 overrides and debt exclusions, they said the key is to selling it or any other option the town goes with to the taxpayers.

The community center plan “really address the younger population, the older population, the middle population, the people that like arts, people that like sports, the people that like exterior activities,” architect Dave Dequattro said. “It addresses all those people in the hopes that everyone comes around the table and says, ‘This is a great idea for the community.’”

Four options

Over the past three years, town officials and residents have come up with dozens of options for the old building, which is mostly vacant but costs the town nearly $400,000 per year to maintain — from selling the property outright to turning it into affordable housing to moving town offices there while shuttering town hall, the annex and the council on aging buildings.

At the recent meeting, architects went over four proposals that seem to have gotten the most traction over the past year or more, and which they focused on during their study over the past several months. They include:

• Option 1: Doing nothing

Architects predicted keeping the old high school as is would cost the town approximately $1,000 per day in upkeep costs. RGB cited few upsides but many cons, including rising maintenance and capital costs as the building deteriorates, and no means to give town departments the means to breathe and grow.

Currently, the town is only using about 15 percent of the building’s available space, but spends anywhere from $350,000 to $400,000 per year to maintain it.

“That’s only going to get more expensive,” architect Chris Barkley said. “This cost per year is only to keep the lights on and doesn’t address other things. Even more than that, it will raise ... potential liability issues for the town, short and long term.”

• Option 2: Adaptive reuse

Under this scenario, the town could develop the basement into recreation department spaces, a possible urgent care center and an indoor market — there are many other opportunities, they stressed.

The recreation department would also have space on the first floor, as would after school programs, school administration offices, council on aging spaces, and municipal offices moved there from the town hall and annex.

The auditorium would remain, and the balance of available space — nearly 10,000 square feet — could be rented out. The second floor could be used for night school and tech clubs, as well as rentable office space.

RGB architects estimated that this option would cost the town some $55.4 million.

“You’re upgrading it, you’re giving it a facelift (but) we didn’t destroy walls and move structure,” Barkley said. “It would cost less than a teardown and rebuild” and would lend itself to being done in phases.

“If the town doesn’t want to absorb this cost all at once, they don’t have to.”

• Option 3: Community Campus

Under this plan, Westport would again move existing town programs into the high school but would also demolish unused spaces between portions of the building, creating in effect several separate, but related, buildings all tied together under the Town of Westport umbrella.

The basement would see recreation department space and an indoor market. The first floor, heavily modified, would see additional recreation department space, after school, the auditorium, council on aging space, town hall and annex office space, and school administration. On the second floor, town hall annex offices would find a new home, as would additional after school programs.

In total, this option would come in at an estimated $59.9 million.

“This thing is (going to be) going from 8 in the morning until late at night,” Dequattro said. “The idea is, it’s always moving — it really is a campus place and something that the town can be very proud of.

It still has the character of a municipal building,” Barkley added. “I think it has a lot of pros to it because it literally becomes independent buildings, independent departments.”

“In a sense this is far easier phase because you know what you’re focusing on and the rest stays until you can develop the money or the funds for it. The fight will be who gets to go first.

• Option 4: Town hall renovations and an addition, while closing the annex

While two positives of this plan include the integration of current town hall and annex offices into one location, and the subsequent ability to sell the annex property, architects listed several cons.

They include the cost of renovating the aging town hall, no opportunity to use town hall for other programs, and the fact that the option doesn’t address many of the community needs cited by residents over the past several years.

In total, this option would cost the town about $6.45 million, they estimated.

Now what?

Architects are not done with their study and will present more information, including more in-depth financials, in the coming months. After that, they are proposing a series of public meetings to get into the nitty gritty of each plan.

Committee chairman Christopher Thrasher said he’s excited to see what RGB came up with, and feels like the many studies over the past several years are starting to point a clearer path:

“While there are still many more steps to go in this process, progress is clearly being made, and I feel strongly that we are closer to delivering real options to the voters of Westport than ever before,” he said.

Any final plan will be up to voters. And given past debt exclusion projects’ failures here, several said at the recent meeting that the key now is to sell not just the cost of whatever plan wins the day, but the cost of doing nothing instead, and impressing upon taxpayers that they will benefit:

“You convince the town (of) the benefit it has to the different populations in the town,” Dequattro said. “Address every population in that bond so everyone has a beneficial use of that bond, and they can see the benefit for themselves, and (why it’s) important for them to vote for this.”

“I think showing the various schemes is very valuable to having people be able to visualize what could be, versus thinking in their head (of) nothing but dollar signs,” committee member Cindy Brown added.

Referring to an appraisal done several years ago that suggested the town could sell the property for $12 million, “we would love it if somebody walked in the door with half that amount of money,” she said.

“Sure, on paper it might be worth that based on square footage. But based on its value to the town, I think it’s far greater than that.”

As for doing nothing with the old building, “doing nothing doesn’t mean doing nothing,” she said. “Doing nothing means you’re going to dispose of it at some point. I think people need to understand the value is far greater to the town than anyone else.”