MARBLEHEAD — After months of studying potential futures for the former Coffin School property, the Select Board took its first formal step toward seeking redevelopment proposals, beginning a discussion over how much direction developers should receive before the town puts the property out to bid.

Rather than issuing a request for proposals immediately, board members directed Community Development and Planning Director Brendan Callahan to prepare a draft RFP for review at the board’s first meeting in August, with members largely agreeing that the document should encourage creative ideas while reflecting the town’s priorities.

“The goal is to get the green light and move on the RFP,” Callahan told the board. “I think I got a lot of good feedback and input from the board.”

Callahan reviewed several redevelopment concepts for 1 Turner Road, which was previously studied for the roughly 3-acre Turner Road property, including adaptive reuse of the existing school building, duplex-style housing, and single-family development. 

Callahan and town officials held multiple public forums before Wednesday’s Select Board meeting to discuss the use of the property.

He said his recommendation is that the RFP avoid prescribing a single redevelopment concept and instead establish broad goals while allowing developers to propose different approaches.

“I think I’m prepared to draft an RFP,” Callahan said. “I think you’re hearing the common themes, which are workforce, employee housing, senior living, and density. They’re not looking for large-scale.”

Much of the board’s discussion centered on striking a balance between creating new housing and preserving public open space.

Select Board member Rossana Ferrante said she favored keeping the RFP broad enough to encourage ideas the town may not have considered.

“I think the broader the RFP is, I think the better,” Ferrante said. “It’s hard to determine right now what the highest and best use is for the community without seeing what it can be. There might be something we haven’t even thought of yet.”

Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said the evaluation process itself could encourage developers to satisfy multiple community priorities.

“You can set up the RFP that in the criteria you give higher scores if you provide more housing and if you provide more open space,” Kezer said. “Tell us creative ways that we can try to maximize or optimize both.”

Several board members agreed that the scoring system may ultimately prove more important than prescribing specific redevelopment requirements in advance.

Board Chair Dan Fox suggested Callahan return with both a draft RFP and proposed evaluation criteria so members could better determine how to weigh competing priorities.

“The biggest thing that I’m hearing here is the criteria — how we judge these,” Fox said. 

Housing remained a consistent theme throughout the discussion.

Select Board member Erin Noonan said the board should reaffirm goals already identified in the town’s housing planning efforts while remaining flexible enough to evaluate proposals as they come in.

“We are prioritizing some non-single-family affordable units,” Noonan said, adding later that the town also needs “new tax growth revenues, property tax revenues, and affordable housing, non-single-family diversity of inventory of housing options.”

Noonan said that there are a number of different ways the town could use open space on the property. She listed a senior independent living center or senior workforce housing, a dog park, and a small park for seniors with raised garden beds.

“We just don’t know until we really set what our priorities are for the development piece,” she added.

Not everyone agreed that flexibility alone would produce the best outcome.

Board member Moses Grader argued the town should decide before issuing the RFP whether a portion of the property should remain permanently under public control as open space rather than leaving that decision to prospective developers.

“We have to figure out what land we want to keep in the public domain,” Grader said. “I think we do have to figure that out … before we go out and sell the entire lot.”

Board member Jim Zisson said the town should provide developers with clearer direction about the amount of open space it expects to preserve, particularly given the property’s location in a single-family neighborhood.

“I have to say, in regard to the neighbors down there, let’s just be clear, that is a single-family neighborhood down there, and they deserve some open space down there,” he said.

“I fundamentally agree with Moses,” Zisson said. “There’s no one in this room that has done more — my family has done more — for affordable housing in the past 50 years, believe me… but I don’t want to ruin the neighborhood.”

The debate continued later in the meeting when Recreation and Parks officials asked the board to reserve approximately 37,000 square feet — about one-third of the site — for future public recreation.

Recreation and Parks Chair Karin Ernst said preserving the land under the department’s jurisdiction would provide flexibility for future uses while ensuring it remains publicly accessible.

“Open space under Recreation and Parks allows you flexibility,” Ernst said. “Once you sell it, you lose it.”

Ernst said the department’s current priority is addressing the town’s dog park, which has become increasingly difficult to access after nearby development eliminated vehicle access.

“If we didn’t lose access, we wouldn’t be here,” she said.

The commission proposed eventually creating a temporary dog park on the property while continuing to explore a permanent recreational use, though members acknowledged any investment would depend on the town’s redevelopment timeline and neighborhood input.

Some board members questioned whether it made sense to pursue a temporary dog park before the town determines the property’s long-term future.

“I hate to see you spend that money,” Fox said, expressing concern that the town could ultimately decide on a different redevelopment plan.

No formal action was taken on the Recreation and Parks request. Board members agreed that the department can continue maintaining the existing field and scheduling recreational programming there while the redevelopment process moves forward.

Callahan is expected to return in early August with a draft RFP and preliminary evaluation criteria for the board’s review before the town formally solicits redevelopment proposals.