Bromley Brook appeal dropped

Andrew McKeever

GNAT-TV News Project

MANCHESTER — An appeal of a local permit to approve the use of the former Bromley Brook School has been dropped by the appellants.

The former school, located on Routes 11/30 had been closed for several years before the owners of an assisted care facility in central Vermont sought to purchase it and reopen it as a living facility for seniors.

Mary Norman, one of the new ownership team, stated Thursday, June 1, that they had closed on the purchase of the building.

The approximate price of the building was $1 million, she said.

They hope to open the doors to three of the five wings of the building by Aug. 1, she said, which would be about two months later than originally planned had the appeal of the DRB decision not been filed. They are hoping to have the rest of the building open within a year, or by May, 2018 — “hopefully sooner,” she added.

She and her associates were pleasantly “stunned” by word the appeal had been dropped, but it will slow down the renovations to the structure that had been anticipated, she said.

“”We’ve lost some of the sub-contractors timing-wise,” she said. “We’re at their mercy for when they can fit us in.”

Norman and partners had secured a local permit to reopen the facility, originally built as a senior center, which was appealed at the local level. That appeal was turned down by Manchester’s Development Review Board on March 31. That decision was in turn appealed to the state’s Environmental Court.

The first appeal hinged around whether or not the proposed facility was an accepted use in that zoning district and whether or not it was proper for Manchester’s Planning and Zoning Director, Janet Hurley, to issue an administrative approval and permit, rather than having it be the subject of a full-blown review by the Development Review Board.

The specific questions addressed to the court in the appeal included whether the Zoning Administrator had the legal authority to issue administrative permits for conditional uses, and if so, whether that delegation of authority exceeded that which was allowable under state statutes; whether the original applicants (Norman and partners) bore the burden of presenting sufficient evidence about the scope of the project to support the issuance of an administrative permit; whether the applicants should have to bear the burden of proving their project would not impose greater impacts than the existing use, rather than on the appellants; whether the proposed project was a permitted use, a conditional use or prohibited; and whether the administrative officer (Hurley) erred in issuing the administrative permit and if the DRB erred in its decision.

The Bromley Brook School building was originally constructed in the late 1990s following an original permit issued in 1995 for a residential care facility on the 8.9 acre property. That permit was amended twice; in 1997 and 1999.

The facility closed in 2001 and reopened as a conference center, but that venture also was short-lived, and sold to an educational group which reopened it in 2004 as the Bromley Brook School. The school lasted until 2011 when it closed its doors, and the building has been vacant since then.

Norman’s group aims to open the building as a 58 bed Level III residential facility. The permit the DRB granted was for a nursing home, a conditional use in that zoning district (Farming and Rural Residential). However, no conditional use review of the proposed project was conducted, according to the appeal to the Environmental Court, which was part of the appellants argument.

However, about a week after filing the appeal, it was withdrawn.

Kate Heaton, one of the appellants in the appeal to the state court, confirmed Friday the appeal had been dropped.

Now, Norman hopes to get things back on track to reopen the faciilty, which she reckoned would create about 10 full-time equivalent jobs when fully up and running.

“I really feel think project will be good for Manchester’s economy and I appreciate that Kate Heaton is doing what she thinks is best for Manchester,” Norman said.