Gorham approved Shaw School renovation plans to pave over what remains of land given to the town by Percival Baxter, despite the objections of a Baxter heir.

In an interview after the meeting, Eric Baxter, a nephew of the former state governor and town benefactor, said it was “morally reprehensible” for the town to ignore the wishes of Percival Baxter. “The town government is arrogant,” he said.

The Gorham Planning Board on Monday approved site plans presented by the town to convert the vacant Shaw School and grounds into a home for town and school administrative offices. Gorham voters favored the $7 million project in a referendum in March.

Burleigh Loveitt, chairman of the town council, introduced the site plans at this week’s meeting. “I’m proud to present this plan to you. It’s sent to you by the citizens of Gorham,” he said.

Plans call for renovation of the school, which is in a historic district on South Street, to begin this fall. The town is planning to expand the parking lot – covering a section of land where the town planted grass and trees several years ago after heirs objected to the town’s plans to expand the Baxter Memorial Library. The town now plans to do landscapping within the parking lot in honor of Baxter’s initial wishes that the land be used “solely for PARK PURPOSES.”

In an interview before Monday’s meeting, Loveitt said Gov. Baxter had encouraged the building of the school in 1938. Loveitt said the town would beautify the new 170-space parking lot with extensive landscaping.

Owens McCullough, an engineer with Sebago Technics of Westbrook, said a good portion of the existing parking lot would be reconstructed. He said the landscaping plan is “aggressive” and called for granite curbing.

“I think that Uncle Percy would be real tickled,” said Loveitt. “When we get done, it’ll be better than he left it.”

Gov. Baxter donated a 1.3-acre parcel to Gorham on June 24, 1915, 90 years ago on Friday. His gift became an issue in 2001 during the approval process for the library project, which used some of the gift land for a driveway for the library.

Eric Baxter of Gray sent a letter to Town Manager David Cole on Monday urging that trees and grass planted by the town in recent years be kept on land given to the town by his great uncle. In connection with landscaping for the expansion of Baxter Memorial Library, which is adjacent to the vacant Shaw School, the town removed a former school industrial arts building and blacktop pavement. The town also planted grass and trees on a portion of the land Percival P. Baxter had given the town to use as a park.

“After my family voiced its concern that the plans violated the spirit of the governor’s deed, the town of Gorham redesigned the parking plan for the library and added a fair amount of landscaping in an attempt to make the land appear more park-like,” Baxter wrote this week.

Baxter also wrote that the town took the land by eminent domain and has no legal obligation to honor the wishes of his great uncle. But he felt the town is “morally obligated.”

Baxter’s letter was read into the public record by Gorham Town Planner Deborah Fossum. Planning Board members did not respond to the letter, except for Michael Parker, who noted that the town had taken the land by eminent domain.

In 1938, Baxter gave the town a 75-by-30-foot strip of his gift land so the town could build a new high school, which became the Shaw School. Later in 1954, during Baxter’s lifetime, Gorham constructed a building that was used for vocational training adjacent to the Shaw School. The building, which later was used as a school bus garage, was removed four years ago. Loveitt said the town tore down the “unsightly” industrial arts building.

Baxter had stipulated that the land would revert to his heirs if it were used for other purposes. However, it was unclear four years ago who the Percival Baxter heirs were because he died unmarried.

In a letter on July 17, 2001, Paul Stern, deputy attorney general, wrote to the town attorney, William Dale, that it appeared that the state of Maine was the heir. However, Gorham’s council used eminent domain that day to acquire the right of heirs.

“Not much I can do. It’s their land,” Eric Baxter said in an interview after the Planning Board decision Tuesday.

Gov. Baxter, a Baxter Memorial Library trustee, died in 1969. He served as Maine governor from 1921 until 1925. He donated Mount Katahdin and land around it to the state, which eventually became the 200,000-acre Baxter State Park.

With its roots in Gorham, the Baxter family was a town benefactor. Gov. Baxter’s father, James Phinney Baxter, who was born in Gorham in 1831, donated the library and the family’s home on South Street to the town as a museum in 1907.

Harold Grant, chairman of the Planning Board, said the site plans were much improved over ones connected with a former proposal a few years ago that would have demolished a portion of the Shaw School. “It’s a big step up from the past go round,” he said.

The Planning approved the plans, 6-0, with Clark Neily absent. Parker made the motion to approve the application, and Susan Robie seconded it.

This small patch of grass with trees is the only remaining portion of the Baxter land that is not covered by a building or pavement.