Borough Zoning Commission (BZC) members have been considering potential future uses for Edmond Town Hall at 45 Main Street, as well other potential future uses along Main Street. The BZC will seek comments from the public on those topics when it meets at 7 pm on Wednesday, May 10, at Edmond Town Hall.

The BZC is considering possible future uses of Edmond Town Hall to provide income for that building's preservation and maintenance.

After it was built in 1932, the town hall property was used for town offices and public agencies, as the site of the Newtown Hook & Ladder Volunteer Fire Company, for public entertainment, for private nonacademic schools, for various events, and as office space for various not-for-profit organizations.

In view of the Edmond Town Hall vacancies that were created by the 2009 closure of town government offices, plus the fire company's departure in 2016, and when considering the zoning limitations imposed by the site being in a Residential zone, Edmond Town Hall appears to lack financial viability, according to a BZC statement.

Uses allowed in that zone include single-family residences, farming, private schools, nursery schools, public utilities, cemeteries, municipal parks and playgrounds, places of religious worship, government buildings, and a not-for-profit horticultural or wildlife reservation, according to the BZC.

All those uses, except for a single-family residences and farming, require a special permit from the BZC.

In its prepared statement, the BZC asks, "How does Edmond Town Hall maintain itself in a state of repair so that Newtown can continue to be proud to have it on Main Street?"

More broadly, the BZC is asking for advice from the public on the question - "What is to be done with Newtown's iconic institutional buildings that are no longer used for their original purposes?"

Although a past proposal to close Hawley School on Church Hill Road did not materialize, that school could be closed in the future, according to the statement.

Newtown Meeting House on Main Street is a possible future candidate for closure, as is Trinity Episcopal Church on Main Street, when considering the ongoing consolidation of religious facilities across the country, according to the BZC.

The 2014 Town Plan of Conservation and Development, which includes the borough, states that Main Street should remain residential to the extent possible, the BZC states.

It is believed that preserving Main Street's residential character was one of the primary reasons that borough zoning regulations were first adopted, according to the BZC. The borough adopted its zoning regulations more than 25 years before the town created its zoning regulations in 1958.