By Adam Swift
The Town Council is expected to continue a conversation on issuing a Request for Information (RFI) for a proposed public-private partnership to build a sports complex at the Winthrop Middle School site at its next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 3.
Several councilors and residents at last week’s meeting praised Council President Jim Letterie’s efforts in bringing the proposal for the long vacant old middle school site forward, but said they would like to see the town cast a wider net with an RFI.
Letterie said he and Town Manager Tony Marino had worked on a 27 page Request for Proposals (RFP) for the project, as well as an RFI. He said he was asking that the RFI be kept on the agenda for a future meeting to give his fellow councilors more time to review it.
“The RFI is what we would really like to do first, which is a request for information,” said Letterie. “It would be a way that we will get input from companies to see if they have an interest in doing something like this.”
If the RFI showed there was sufficient interest, then the town could issue a RFP for the project, said Letterie.
“I do like generally the idea of an RFI as a first step much better than just going into an RFP for any complicated project,” said Precinct 5 Councilor Joseph Aiello.
Aiello noted that there has been much discussion in the past about the future of the middle school site, as well as overall capital planning for the town. He said the town should broaden its search when it comes to considering plans for the middle school site.
“There are a lot of good ideas out there, and we really ought to have a debate about it,” said Aiello. “I don’t think that the debate should go on forever, but I think we need to have a series of community forums.”
Aiello said the town has to be realistic about the economic market, and also cautious about the potential of a developer coming in and then not being able to complete the project.
“I think an RFI is a good idea, I think it needs to be informed however by a broader palette of possibilities,” he said.
Precinct 2 Councilor John Munson said he applauded Letterie’s effort to move the conversation forward with the public-private sports complex proposal and that it checked off a lot of boxes of how the town wants to see the property developed.
“But I also feel as though an openness to other ideas is critical,” said Munson. “Ultimately, we are trying to serve the most people in Winthrop possible. While a sports complex checks off a lot of boxes, could mixed-use senior housing, a community center, or an upgraded rink serve more Winthrop residents better? Possibly.”
However, Munson said he would also like to see the town move quickly on plans for the middle school, which has been vacant for over seven years.
“We ultimately need to get real plans on the table and real developers who are willing to develop and with real numbers that we can decide upon,” said Munson.
Resident Julia Wallace said she agreed that there should be more consideration given to the type of development the town goes ahead with at the middle school, and asked if there was enough of a market for a sports complex in lieu of other potential uses.
“Sports are important, but I think there are so many other important needs in the town,” she said.
Letterie said the aim of the project is not totally about providing sports opportunities. “The goal has always been a financial stream of net income for the town and economic stimulus for the businesses,” said Letterie. “So that’s the goal; it’s not sports, it’s whatever vehicle gets us to our goal.”