Council to Discuss Connie Bean Center's Fate

The City Council will hold a work session on Monday to look at whether the Connie Bean Recreation Center should be leased or sold once it closes at the end of this summer.

City Manager John Bohenko said the work session would be held at 6 p.m., before the council's regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m., with the goal of getting some firm direction from the council.

in March, councilors were leaning toward a lease.

Last summer, City Attorney Robert Sullivan said the state Division of Charitable Trust and the Attorney Generals Office approved the city's request to submit the petition. Currently, the deed restrictions in place on the 95-year-old building state that it can only be used for recreational, educational or civic purposes. If the city's petition is granted by the probate court, the city can sell the building or lease it for any potential use decided by the city.

The city has owned the Connie Bean Center since 1948 after it was formerly owned by the Army and Navy Association. That group constructed the first of the center's three parcels in 1911 and upon the final transfer to the city, the association stipulated that the proceeds from the sale of the center or $21,340, which ever was the lesser amount, would have to be devoted to relief for military famiies.

Councilors learned the 14,870-square-foot building has an assessed land and building value of $1,684,400 in Fiscal Year 2011. They also learned the assessed value could be twice as high based on some recent property sales in downtown Portsmouth.

Bohenko told City Councilor Nancy Novelline Clayburgh that the property could yield $25,000 per year in local property tax revenue if it sold for more than $1.6 million or $50,000 if it sold for more than $3.2 million.