The main event this year was not the gym. It was the announcement, a couple of days before the meeting that:
Town Meeting Update Article 15
Posted on: May 14, 2021 - 2:01pm
Quote:
There are no proposals to present at Town meeting for Article 15, sale of Taylor property, and therefore the Board will ask that Article 15 be tabled.
Message from Huggins Hospital – We are proud to be strong members of the Moultonborough community. We have seen growth over the years in our Moultonborough Family Medicine office. We would like to continue conversations with town officials and residents regarding options if there is a need for expansion in the future. At this time, it is too soon for us to make any formal agreements regarding a purchase of property as we need more time to evaluate the community’s needs and our options for growth. We plan to stay in Moultonborough and we are happy to continue conversations with the town about how we can help support the community.
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The hospital was going to tear down the controversial Taylor building to build an 8,500-10,000 sq. ft. addition to the Med Center that alraedy abuts the property. Some believed, finally, a solution to the property.
The "save the old building" crowd managed to kill the sale. Huggins has other places to expand, without a bunch of grief.
Since, legally, the $75,000 (Article 16) is available to the select board for its prerogative, maybe they'll use it to tear down the building, and put in a town common/green; not very controversial. The select board has the legal authority (and the money) to tear down/raze the building without town meeting approval; cf. NH Prudential Affairs doctrine.
Article 16 would have been moot and never discussed, if the town-published-letter-of-intent to build a med center, had been voted on.