Vote on Swift House’s future expected next year

KENT — Voters are expected to decide early next year whether the town should keep the historic Swift House, following a Sept. 15 discussion of the building’s condition, restoration costs and possible sale.

“The time has come to ask the voters to decide on the fate of the property,” First Selectman Eric Epstein said. He proposed holding a vote in the first quarter of 2027, allowing time for legal advice and a possible appraisal.

The town has owned the Maple Street property since 1974. The late 18th-century house has been closed to the public since the COVID-19 pandemic, and officials have spent years debating whether it can be put back into municipal use.

The Swift House Investigative Committee, a seven-member group appointed by the Board of Selectmen in February to study the building’s future, outlined four possible approaches: sell the property, either with or without preservation restrictions; retain it and restore it in phases over five to 10 years; or maintain it while the town considers other options.

The committee recommended placing a preservation easement on the building regardless of which approach the town chooses.

Several committee members, including selectman Lynn Harrington and Kent Historical Society Curator Marge Smith, who spent many years working inside the building when it housed the Society’s offices, were motivated to keep the building under town ownership when the group was established in February.

At the September meeting, however, both said the committee’s research had persuaded them that selling the house to a buyer committed to historic preservation, with restrictions to protect it, would be the best course. Harrington pointed to the extent of the repairs the town would face.

“It’s just a huge, huge undertaking,” said Harrington. “Not just the cost, but just like everything that has to be done. It’s almost like everything has to be fixed.”

Epstein said the boiler needs replacing at an estimated cost of $90,000. Returning the house to public use would also require upgrades to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. Estimates for a full renovation range from $2 million to $4 million.

Smith said that she had grown close to the building over the years.

“I know every inch of that house—I love it so much,” she said, but agreed that a responsible private owner may be a better steward than the town.

The selectmen have yet to set a date for the town vote.