Town Officials Hope to Have a Design for Parker by the Spring

After the Parker School complex is winterized, the key month for the future of the property will be June, when town officials hope to have a design submitted for an elderly housing complex, Town Manager Steven Werbner said on Tuesday. 

The Access Agency, a federal and state designated non-profit entity, on the town's behalf, has received a $275,000 state grant to perform a "detailed design and engineering study to convert Parker School to elderly housing," Werbner said. 

Following design submissions, the town would seek construction funds, Werbner said. 
Town officials at one time discussed the possibility of a magnet school with the Capitol Region Education Council, but it was determined that Tolland was, "too far from where the main core of children would be bussed to attend," Werbner said. 

Werbner said town officials hope that design work will be completed by June and then applications will be filed for construction funds for elderly housing. 
For now, a Town Council appropriation of $25,000 from the General Fund's unassigned fund balance will allow work to proceed "to secure and clean the building," Werbner said. He termed the work as a winterization. 

Department of Public Works officials have outlined several short-term priorities for the property: 

• Take down the modular classroom.
• Replace broken windows. 
• Hire a contractor to take down the ceiling and remove carpeting. 
• Build block walls where they were taken down for the modular space.
• Remove the canopy.