The vacant former Sherburne School in Portsmouth could become home to a below-market-rate housing project. (Photo by Jeff McMenemy/Seacoastonline)
The city has received responses to its request for proposals for the potential redevelopment of the 5.3-acre former Sherburne School property with below-market-rate housing.
But city officials are refusing — for now — to release those proposals for the city-owned parcel to the media or public, according to Monte R. Bohanan, the city’s director of communications and community engagement.
City officials recently sent the RFPs to the four finalists they selected as potential partners to redevelop the city-owned property at 35 Sherburne Road to “create permanent, below market rate rental housing units” on the site.
Bohanan stated last week the deadline for the finalists to submit the proposals to the city was 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11.
But he stated “proposals for the Sherburne School Project will not be made available to the public until a later date in the process.”
“Typically, the city would not make responses public until we have made the selection, and a fully executed contract is in place,” he said last Wednesday. “In this case, however, given the City Council’s unique role regarding the development of this parcel, there will likely be public disclosure at some point earlier in the process, but that is still to be evaluated.”
Release of proposals sought with Right to Know law request
The Portsmouth Herald and Seacoastonline on Thursday filed a Right to Know request with City Manager Karen Conard seeking the immediate disclosure of the submitted proposals from the four potential city partners in their entirety.
The Portsmouth Herald maintains the responses to the RFP request for the Sherburne School redevelopment “are clearly public records under the provisions of the state’s Right to Know law.”
“The law states that ‘openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society,’” the Portsmouth Herald stated when filing the Right to Know request.
The city has five business days to respond to the request under the Right to Know law.
As of mid-day Tuesday, the city had not shared any formal response with The Portsmouth Herald.
“Following the backlash against the initial rollout of housing at the former Sherburne School site, city officials promised to be more transparent when bringing forward future proposals,” said Howard Altschiller, executive editor of Seacoast Media Group. “Now is the time to act on that promise. City residents have a right to know what developers are proposing to build on city-owned land in partnership with the city when there is still time for residents to weigh in on the proposal.”
The city dropped a joint effort with the Portsmouth Housing Authority to redevelop the former Sherburne School site in 2023 after some residents of the nearby Pannaway Manor neighborhood complained about the project.
A promise to disclose Sherburne School housing proposals ‘soon’
On Tuesday, Bohanan released an additional statement: “The Selection Committee has received the proposals today and will meet to discuss them this week. We expect this process to move forward quickly. The City Council and thus the public will see all the submitted proposals, soon.”
Mayor Deaglan McEachern could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.
The four finalists and potential development partners of the city are Avesta Housing of Portland, Maine, Pennrose of Boston, Portsmouth Housing Authority and Preservation of Affordable Housing of Boston, according to Conard.
The former elementary school site is now vacant, but it most recently was home to the Robert J. Lister Academy, Portsmouth’s alternative high school, which moved to Community Campus for the 2024-25 school year.
What request for proposals to finalists says
The RFP asked the four finalists to propose a redevelopment project that keeps the former Sherburne School, and another one that removes it.
“The city takes no position on whether to keep the existing Sherburne School,” the RFP states. “The successful proposer will demonstrate the most creative use of the parcel with or without the school.”
The former Sherburne School building was built in 1930 and is approximately 18,000 square feet, according to the RFP.
The RFP states that one option should focus on “an adaptive reuse of all or a portion of the existing Sherburne School.”
“Adaptive reuse may contemplate additional housing units, commercial uses that support the community, or a combination thereof,” according to the RFP.
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