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Select Board discusses $500,000 offer for historic Chapel and Bruce Hall, seeks townwide input
Summary
A private offer of $500,000 to buy the town-owned historic Chapel and Bruce Hall drew discussion. The facilities committee had previously recommended keeping the buildings; the board agreed to solicit public feedback (survey, targeted notices) rather than move immediately to a sale or special town meeting.
The Brookline Select Board discussed a recent inquiry offering the town $500,000 for the town-owned Chapel and Bruce Hall, buildings the town bought about 20 years ago to preserve them as historic properties.
Chair summarized the offer and reminded members that the facilities and properties committee had previously recommended keeping the buildings; that committee’s final report reflected a divided vote but leaned toward retaining the properties. Members raised practical concerns about losing meeting space while the new town hall is completed and about future maintenance costs if the town kept the buildings. One member noted Bruce Hall is in relatively good condition with a kitchen and bathrooms and questioned whether the town could find alternative meeting space before considering sale.
Board members discussed options for gauging public sentiment: conducting a survey (with a QR code for distribution), placing notices on the transfer-station signboard, or asking for email or letter feedback. The chair said the decision to sell would be a warrant-article matter for town meeting and cautioned against calling a special town meeting absent a compelling reason. Several members said they preferred collecting public input now and possibly presenting a sense-of-meeting question or a warrant article at the regular town meeting rather than rushing into a special meeting.
No motion to sell was made. The board asked staff to prepare a survey and outreach plan to solicit resident feedback and to report back with results and recommendations. The facilities committee’s original recommendation to keep the properties and potential future costs were both cited as reasons to seek public input before any formal action.
Next steps: staff to prepare a public survey, create outreach (QR code, social media, physical postings) and bring results and a recommendation back to the board for possible inclusion on a warrant article at town meeting.
