Litchfield selectmen agreed Tuesday to look into selling the town annex building located in Bantam. They made the decision after learning it would cost at least $2.5 million to renovate the building to accommodate all town offices, according to an architect.

John Martin, a Litchfield architect, showed selectmen a diagram of the former school building reconfigured as a town hall with an addition for vault space.  In 2008, the Town Hall Building Committee considered the idea and rejected it, he said. 

The annex, built in 1956, is made of concrete block with single-pane windows and has no insulation in exterior walls, Martin said.  The building would require a full sprinkler system, window replacement, a new roof, and new rest rooms as part of renovation.  The work would cost about $2.5 to $3 million, Martin estimated.

“We’d still have a building that would not be very energy-efficient,” he said. “It was the general opinion of the building committee that it was not a good location for the town hall to be.”  

The committee recommended renovating and expanding the existing town hall in the center of Litchfield, That cost was estimated at $6 million in July, 2008.

“With the economy today, you might get it under $5 million,” said First Selectman Leo Paul. Jr.  He has advocated selling the annex to offset the cost of renovating the town hall.  The Bantam property, which includes almost 12 acres of land, has an appraised value of $1.8 million.

The selectmen voted unanimously to authorize Paul to discuss selling the annex with the Board of Finance, realtors, and the town attorney.

“We ought to look into whether there’s a market for it and what we might do with it,” said Selectman Christopher Blake.  Any decision to list the property for sale would require approval of residents at a town meeting.

The annex property is currently zoned for residential use.  Bantam officials have said they have no intention of rezoning it for commercial use.

“Wouldn’t that hurt the ability to sell it?” asked Selectman William Dranginis.
“We don’t know,” said Paul.

Dranginis said he thought the property was a good site for elderly housing.

Selectman Ernest Bunnell suggested a meeting between town and borough officials to iron things out.  Paul said he was willing to meet with Bantam Borough Warden Richard Sheldon, despite a recent letter from borough burgesses that opposed selling or rezoning the property.

Bunnell said he wants Bantam residents to have a chance to comment on the proposed annex sale.

“Maybe they have an idea we don’t know about,” he said.  “I’m a great believer in communicating.”

Paul said he would discuss the issue at a meeting of the Bantam Board of Burgesses.

“If we vote to go forward, I’m not going to slow the process down if they don’t agree,” Paul said.

Several visitors to the selectman’s meeting ended up standing, because there was no room for more chairs in Paul’s office.  He pointed out the town hall renovation plans include a meeting room that can accommodate about 50 people, along with two smaller conference rooms.

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