Officials await proposals for Batcheller School

WINSTED — Proposals to develop the now-shuttered Batcheller School may bring housing or help expand an existing business into town, but the Board of Selectmen are still reviewing the plans.

The Batcheller School closed for good in June, and selectmen now are planning for a potential repurposing of the building.

The board received two proposals this month. One came from George Noujaim, owner of Noujaim’s Bistro on Main Street in Winsted, which recently added a wholesale food business to the company, providing Middle Eastern food to buyers. Noujaim, he said, even provided a security deposit.

The other proposal is for a senior housing complex.

“Those are the only two we’ve received,” Kelly said.

Selectmen issued a request for proposals for the school building this summer. Among the initial ideas posed was a request from the Parks & Recreation Department to make local use of the space, keeping it for the town. But Kelly said it was important to get the building back on the tax rolls and bring revenue in for the town.

“(At) this point, we want to see all the options for development and town uses,” Kelly said at the time. “It’s likely that the building probably needs millions of dollars’ worth of work to keep it up in a sustainable manner. To put millions into another building — that’s not in the cards for us. The town would benefit from getting it back on the tax rolls.”

This spring, the old school temporarily served an entirely different purpose: In June, Kelly and Social Services Director Katie Vaill led a rescue operation after more than 160 cats were discovered in a local home.

Kelly said the Board of Selectmen have

heard a number of ideas for Batcheller, including making it into a small business incubator. “There’s been many ideas,” Kelly said. “Another one was to use the property to build condos or apartments.”

Batcheller School’s property is 32 acres. “It’s mostly wooded,” Kelly said. “It’s hard to see that from the road, because the school is so close to the road. But all the woods behind it are part of the school property.”

Batcheller was closed in 2020 at the recommendation of Robert Travaglini, who was appointed by the state and began his job as receiver in August 2015, assuming the duties of the town Board of Education and the Superintendent of Schools.

After Travaglini left the district in 2016, citing health concerns, Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley investigated renovating Hinsdale instead, saying it was more structurally sound and would provide a better foundation than Batcheller. After a series of public meetings explaining the proposed project for Hinsdale, voters accepted it. Hinsdale reopened in August for the start of the 2022-23 school year.

Kelly said he plans to present several proposals he’s received to the selectmen in October.