CHESTERTOWN - Washington College is on track to take over the Sgt. John H. Newnam Armory.
The armory, built in the early 1930s, was declared surplus in 2005, and its fate was debated intensely for several months until the town decided to take control of the property. Monday's town council meeting showed that not all the fire has gone out of the debate.
Mayor Margo Bailey said the college's properties have been "beautifully and successfully" developed, and she expected the same to be true of the armory, sited on a 3.5-acre waterfront lot on Cross Street extended/Quaker Neck Road.
She said the college agreed to cover all costs of the transfer, including environmental studies the town paid for when it began considering buying the property. The college also would pay off about $500,000 of remaining debt for repairs to the building the Army made in the 1990s.
Bailey said concerns over the college's tax-free status are misplaced.
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