Poll: Madison Residents Agree On Best Use of Academy School Site

MADISON, CT - The results of a townwide poll on what to do with the Academy School site shows there is overwhelming support to convert the site into a Community Center. The results of the poll were heard and discussed, at length, at the most recent Board of Selectmen meeting.

Dan Quatrocelli from Great Blue Research provided an overview of the survey findings from the Academy School poll. Quatrocelli presented a PowerPoint report which is available on the website as well. Overall, of the seven options, survey respondents only supported the option for a Community Center with 59.1% in favor of, and 40.9% opposed to, this option.

Of the other options, four involved the sale of the building, one proposal would make the building the Town Hall, and one would involve the demolition of the building for open park space. Also, there was opposition to the sale of the land surrounding the building.

Selectman Bruce Wilson thanked Quatrocelli for the presentation of the survey results; he
asked if the results indicated that the community in whole was in favor a Community
Center model.

Quatrocelli stated that the survey results would indicate that the Town was in favor of the Community Center, especially when considering the spread of the results. Selectman Wilson stated that with this option, those who were in support and those who were in opposition were strongly in favor or strongly opposed to this option and he asked if this figured into the approval of this option.

He confirmed that if the results were combined in aggregate for options to sell versus options to retain the building, the average would indicate only a 45% approval of retaining the building for Town use.

First Selectman Tom Banisch questioned if the advertisements surrounding this issue had
impacted the survey results and Quatrocelli stated that the groundswell of support was
also indicative of what the survey results yielded. He stated that any advertisements, etc.
surrounding the survey would also be seen around a referendum vote and that these types
of notifications did not skew the data.

Selectman Wilson asked Quatrocelli to confirm that the results were an accurate read
of the feelings of the Town. Quatrocelli responded that the phone survey was done
using a random sample and since the results of the phone survey were in line with the
online survey, it would indicate that there wasn’t much bias of the online data.

Selectman Murphy asked Quatrocelli to confirm how the 400 phone calls were
conducted and Quatrocelli stated that 400 results were compiled, but that more phone
calls were made to ensure that the sampling included respondents of both genders and of
respondents of all age groups.

After hearing the survey results, Kathryn Hunter of the Ad-Hoc Academy Guidance Committee stated that there is such closeness and consistency between the phone results and the online survey results, and therefore no qualitative difference between the two polls. Ms. Hunter also stated that the question regarding the sale of the land included the ball park and fields.

And Henry Griggs, chairman of the Ad-Hoc Academy School Guidance Committee said the Ad-Hoc Academy School Guidance Committee supported the results of the survey. He stated that the Ad-Hoc Committee would present a written statement to the Board, but that the statement
summarized that the Committee felt the residents supported the Community Center
proposal and that the Town should not sell the surrounding land.

Selectman Wilson stated that the process was a path to awaken the voice of the community and the Committee was charged with an intimidating request. The Committee has done a fabulous job and he stated that he was grateful for the work done by the Committee. First Selectman Banisch added that he also thanked the Committee on behalf of the Town and the Board. Selectman Goldberg stated that as the liaison to this Committee he watched the process unfold. He stated that the committee members were respectful of one another, even when they did not necessarily agree.

Selectman Murphy questioned what the next steps for the process should be and if the Committee really needed to be disbanded. He questioned if the next step was a Design/Development Committee. First Selectman Banisch and Selectman Wilson stated, and the board agreed, that the Board’s work was just beginning but that this Committee had fulfilled its Charge and should be disbanded.