NARROWSBURG, NY — According to a note to supporters from Brendan and Kathy Weiden, the assignment of the contract to purchase the Narrowsburg school was completed on October 3. That means Joan Buto is no longer in line to purchase the school and the attached 14 acres, and the sale from the Sullivan West School District to the Weidens will move forward.

The note from the Weidens said, “We look forward to the next segment of this great adventure—our due diligence on the properties.”

Buto had planned to turn the school into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, which immediately sparked a large wave of protest from the community.

The saga of the sale of the school, which has been vacant for the past decade, played out through the summer and began with a meeting of the Sullivan West Board of Education on June 19, at which the decision was made to accept a bid of $751,00 from Buto over the bid from the Weidens, which was $9,000 less.

Members of the school board argued that they had a fiduciary responsibility to the district to accept the highest offer, but some residents did not necessarily agree that was the case, and several residents, including the Weidens, filed a lawsuit against the school district over what they considered to be irregularities in the proposed sale.

Also in the wake of the school board meeting a group called Narrowsburg Organized for Responsible School Usage (NORSU) formed and organized a letter-writing campaign, which resulted in 300 letters being sent to officials in Albany regarding concerns about the proposed sale.

NORSU also engaged county legislator Alan Sorensen, a professional planner and former Sullivan County planning commissioner, to write a report about the school and the zoning. The report concluded that a rehabilitation center at the school would not be compliant with town zoning. In order to go forward, Buto would have needed a variance from the town zoning board of appeals (ZBA) and other permits. It’s not clear if the ZBA would have granted a variance or not, but Buto never applied to the board for a variance.

The Weiden’s proposed use for the school, which includes activities related to the community, depending on the ultimate details, may not require a variance, but will likely require a special-use permit.

In any case, on September 3, Buto submitted a request to the Sullivan West Central School District to allow her to assign her contract for the purchase of the school to the Weidens. At a special meeting the next day, the board agreed to the change.

But when Buto and the attorneys met to finish the assignment on September 12, Buto said she would not go forward with the deal unless the price of the school were raised to $1.5 million, with roughly half of that going to Buto. The Weidens did not agree to those terms, which is what Buto later said she expected, and the move prompted the Weidens to file another lawsuit claiming that Buto was in breach of contract.

Judge Stephan Schick agreed with the Weidens and ordered that Buto move forward with transferring the contract of sale to the Weidens.