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For nearly a year, the argument over the former Coffin Elementary School has come down to a distinction Recreation and Parks Commission Chair Karin Ernst drew for the Select Board this summer: open space and public space are not the same thing.
"Open space to me is either town-owned open space or private own open space," she said, urging the board to hold roughly 37,000 square feet — land her department already mows and schedules for flag football — before any developer submits a plan. "Once you sell it, you never get it back."
The town answered part of that on Sept. 2, when it released request for proposals 27-14 for the sale or ground lease of the vacant school at 1 Turner Road. Proposals are due Oct. 19 at 10 a.m. A nonmandatory property viewing is set for Sept. 22 at 11:30 a.m., and the package and all official clarifications run through the town's OpenGov procurement portal.
Housing is now the requirement
The solicitation settles the question that five municipal departments spent last fall competing over. The property will be sold or ground leased solely for housing, and the town will not consider proposals contemplating any other use. Cemetery expansion, battery storage and the boat-storage revenue concept are gone as standalone redevelopment. Recreation amenities survive only as elements folded into a housing plan.
What the town favors is a longer and softer list. Affordable units, senior and elderly housing, veterans housing, workforce housing, units for municipal employees and local essential workers, first-time homebuyer opportunities and preferences for current Marblehead residents may all be viewed favorably during evaluation — each conditioned on compliance with federal and state fair housing law. The town sets no mandatory affordable share and names no minimum or maximum number of units.
That absence is not a green light for density. Any new construction or addition must meet every dimensional requirement of the Single Residence district — setbacks, height, lot coverage and open space — without dimensional relief, and provide the minimum off-street parking for its use group. Multifamily housing remains something current zoning does not allow.
The board discussed broader zoning possibilities before the solicitation issued. Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer told members a respondent could propose a project that does not meet zoning provided it identifies the change required, giving the town the option to carry a concept to Town Meeting. The schedule lists May 3, 2027, for Town Meeting approval of a 99-year lease if necessary — an authorization step, not a construction date. No zoning amendment has passed.
Access, ownership and who decides later
The ground Ernst wants gets its own treatment. The opening sentence frames the northwest and west portion adjacent to Shepard Street Extension as a goal: the selected proposer should maintain it "primarily as open green space" available for "appropriate public community use." The provisions that follow are firmer. That area "shall remain free of permanent structures, parking lots, and other substantial impervious surfaces," except improvements the town expressly authorizes. Respondents must mark it on a conceptual site plan and explain how it will be maintained and preserved long term.
The town lists possible amenities — playgrounds, athletic fields, a dedicated community dog park, community gardens, walking paths, open lawn — and tells respondents they need not incorporate all of them. It sets no minimum square footage for the designated area and does not commit the roughly 37,000 square feet to Recreation and Parks.
Ernst's request grew from a problem her department is already living with. The existing dog park, opened in 2009, lost its Tioga Way access in 2021 when that private road closed, and lost Lime Street access about a month before her presentation. Department trucks cannot manage the remaining narrow path from Reynolds Field, she said, leaving no vehicle access for repairs.
Select Board Vice Chair Moses Grader pressed the same point through the board's deliberations, invoking the Gerry School, where the town carved out the playground before soliciting proposals. Select Board member Jim Zisson agreed the town should define the area or a range so developers know what is available rather than guess. Select Board Chair Dan Fox and fellow member Rossana Ferrante argued for a broader solicitation that lets proposals arrive first and be weighed against stated criteria. Select Board member Erin Noonan warned that reserving land in advance would limit responses, noting none of the UConn renderings preserved the full area once parking was accounted for.
"We are definitely going to have an open space preference in the RFP," Noonan said. Grader's reply: "But for how much?"
The town resolves that through a companion document rather than a carve-out. Finalized forms — including a public easement reserving the public's permanent rights of access, such as walkways, open-space access and utility or parking easements — must be attached to the binding agreement and executed at closing. Guaranteed access is not the same as town ownership, and neither carries the authority to convert a dog park into a community garden later. No easement exists yet.
Price will not decide it
Proposals will be rated highly advantageous, advantageous, non-advantageous or not acceptable across community benefit, design and site compatibility, ground lease value or purchase price, developer qualifications, open space and public access, and energy efficiency measured against the town's net zero by 2040 goal. No numerical weights are published. The town is not bound to select the highest financial offer.
That answers a question the board wrestled with as it considered how to compare submissions that might share almost nothing. Kezer told members the process carried little risk because the board could reject everything and start over.
Respondents must supply a development budget, financing sources, bedroom counts and income limits with proposed rents for each affordable unit, and anticipated tax and other revenue to the town for at least the first 10 years after completion — projections, not commitments. Proposal security equal to 10 percent of the respondent's own proposed total value must accompany each submission.
The town requires respondents to accept the property "as is" and to acknowledge it bears no responsibility for hazardous materials. Weston & Sampson found asbestos-containing materials and lead paint in the building; earlier estimates ran $340,000 to $464,000 for the partial-demolition alternative and $930,000 to $1.18 million for full demolition. A ground lessee would carry taxes, insurance, maintenance and operating costs on a triple-net basis.
A review committee designated by the Select Board will recommend. The board decides, and may reject all proposals. Selection grants exclusive negotiating rights, not permits: design details, traffic mitigation and screening still go before the Planning Board, Board of Appeals and Conservation Commission. The winner must sign a binding agreement within 90 days of award.
Callahan told the board he had not seen a survey of the property. The RFP describes about 3.3 acres and includes an informational site plan whose property lines, it states, are shown for informational purposes only.
This reporting brings together the Coffin School RFP, the open-space question and the decisions still ahead before proposals are due Oct. 19. Reader support keeps this kind of local government coverage free for the whole town and helps us keep following the records, meetings and tradeoffs that shape Marblehead. If you have been meaning to support the Indy, today is a good day to start. 🟦 Become a member here.
