Politics & Government

Old Town Hall Building Debate Sparks Public Hearing

Public comment from Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting plus months of debate over the fate of the old town hall building has resulted in scheduling a public hearing this month.

In the end, it was Selectman Paul Szatkowski who made the motion to have a public hearing to further discuss what to do with Bethel's former town hall building.

"I honestly think it's the best thing to do...to allow Bethel voters to voice  their opinions on this issue," Szatkowski said at last night's Board of Selectmen meeting. 

No exact date for the public hearing has been set, but it will most likely happen during the month of June at the Bethel High School auditorium.

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For the past several months, the topic of selling or tearing down the old town hall has been a widely discussed at both Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance meetings.

While the Bethel Public Library is close to completing its capital campaign to finish its addition, zoning laws require that extra parking spaces must be created nearby to accommodate additional patrons. The idea to knock down the old town hall building to turn it into those extra spaces has been proposed.

Find out what's happening in Bethelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

However, the Board of Finance unanimously opposed the idea, even issuing a resolution that it would not support its tearing down back in January. A few members of the board reiterated their sentiments during last night's public comment session, including Chairman Bill Slifkin, Timothy Draper and J. Phillip Gallagher.

Slifkin, Draper and Gallagher all said the town would be better off selling the building, which could be worth up to $750,000. 

"Bethel has a history of recycling its old buildings," Gallagher said, adding that building is of historical significance to the town. 

First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker said knocking down the building could not only benefit the library, but also other downtown businesses that need additional parking. He also said he read into the Seeley family will (the family who donated the property that currently houses the library and old town hall) to research legal language that suggested all profits made from selling the old town hall property would have to go toward the library.

Town Attorney Martin Lawlor clarified that the old town hall property did eventually get separated from that clause and that all profits made from selling it would go to the Town of Bethel.


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