Can the Parmenterschool site really become a new police station?

One of the most talked-about themes in the recent school rezoning that closed the John F. Kennedy School and the Gerald M. Parmenter School is the idea that the latter, with its large footprint and proximity to King Street and I-495, would make a prime location for a police station. A special city commission has been working on this for the past several years.

City Manager Jamie Hellen has often cited Parmenter as his preferred location for such a use.

But during citizen comment period at Wednesday’s city council meeting, Jane Callaway pointed out a potentially fatal flaw in the idea.

She noted that the Parmenter school land was donated to the city of Franklin by the Parmenter family in memory of their son, Gerald M. Parmenter, who attended and graduated from the Franklin school system before losing his life in the war. According to the deed, the city had three years to build a school on the property, or the land would revert to Gerald’s parents, the original owners. The city complied with this requirement, and a school was built and opened in 1952.

However, the deed specifies that the land is intended to be used for children, and specifically for a school. A police station does not fit the bill.

Callaway said she consulted with several attorneys and legislators from other cities and they all agreed that the only way to use this land for a police station is to petition the court to amend the original deed.

Callaway wondered why residents had not been made aware of such a major obstacle, especially since there was already talk of the future use of the Davis Thayer school as a police station.

“My only other thought,” Callaway told the council, “is that since the deed restriction was filled out in a deed in 1950, they should file a notice of restriction again by January 1, 1964 or until the 50 years have passed. Has the title to this property been revised and/or has the Parmenter family been notified of the city’s decision to convert this property to a police station? If the title has been revised, will the city council share the title with the public?

Callaway said the Parmenter family’s wishes for the land, “donated in memory of their son, a Franklin resident and war hero,” should come first. If the school were to close, the building would need to be repurposed to benefit the neighborhood and provide a place for children.

Below you will see an image of the deed document: