KENT—Members of the Swift House Task force sought clarification of their charge Wednesday night during the regular Board of Selectmen’s meeting.
Selectman Glenn Sanchez, who also serves on the Task Force, noted that on July 1 the selectmen authorized seeking a $500,000 STEAP grant to convert the 18th-century building for use by the Social Services department and the Food Pantry. The state has yet to open the application process, which may take place in September.
“Now that the board has decided to pursue a STEAP grant, how does that affect the task force charge?” he asked. “Our first charge was to explore future possibilities of use for Swift House. That seems to have come to an end. Do we have a future use?”
He noted that the task force had been engaged in several activities at the time the selectmen made their decision, including using some $16,000 budgeted for the 2023-24 fiscal year to make small upgrades to the property, such as painting the main interior room.
“We talked of meeting with focus groups to get input for a town meeting,” Sanchez said. “I don’t know if we even need to do that now. But the overarching question is, if the task force is to remain, what should it focus on? We haven’t heard from SHPO (the State Historic Preservation Office), but there is still the possibility of getting the building on historic registry. How does that fit into all of this?”
Task Force Chairman Suzanne Charity said she thinks it is important to follow through on the application to the National Register of Historic Places, saying that if it were listed, it would allow the town to apply for federal monies to match state grants for improvements to the building.
More immediately, she questioned the plan to bring refrigeration units into Swift House, which needs major upgrades to fit it for modern-day uses. “The Food Pantry has two freezers and a walk-in freezer,” she said. “That is too much weight for the building as it now exists.”
“Our first charge was to explore future possibilities of use for Swift House. That seems to have come to an end. Do we have a future use?”
—Glenn Sanchez, task force member
She suggested moving the Food Pantry to the vacant former ambulance building. “It has a concrete pad and is only steps away,” she said. Failing that, she said the selectmen should consult a structural engineer before moving the equipment into Swift House.
When the selectmen authorized applying for the STEAP grant, First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer argued that the grant could make the building ADA compliant on the first floor, creating a handicap access ramp for entry and a code-compliant bathroom. This would open up the building, which has been closed for four years, for public use.
Offices for Social Services could be established, and the Food Bank moved there, consolidating services in a location near Templeton Farm, the town’s senior housing complex.
Under his plan, the historic main room would be available for meetings and gatherings and a kitchenette would be available for preparing snacks, coffee and the like.
In an email sent to the selectmen, Charity had argued a less-intrusive municipal use would be to move Park and Recreation to the building.
She also argued that while the renovation of the first floor is underway, the steep staircase to the second floor should also be reconfigured. She said future workers in the building would not be happy if walls were opened up again and construction was going on around them.
Lindenmayer stopped the conversation, saying that the selectmen’s meeting was not designed to be a task force meeting. He said he would accept Charity’s email as a letter from a citizen but, because the task force has not met in the past month, he could not take it as a formal communication from its members.
