DEERFIELD — The town’s search for a developer to create affordable senior housing on the former St. James Church property will continue.

Lili Dwight, chair of the ad hoc Senior Housing Committee, recently joined several members of the town administration and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments to meet with Rural Development Inc. to discuss the developer’s inquiry into the project. A request for proposals (RFP) was issued earlier this year and closed with no bidders on April 17.

RDI expressed a few concerns over the project, including development costs, proximity to Bloody Brook’s floodplain and the uncertainty of federal funding opportunities, Dwight said. RDI is a nonprofit created by the Franklin County Regional Housing & Redevelopment Authority.

“To make a long meeting short, basically no one knows what the feds are doing and that’s a huge problem,” Dwight said, adding that new regulations also would require two elevators, which are pricey to buy and operate, instead of one. “The cost of building with the existing buildings was prohibitive; the cost of taking the building down adds too much to the initial capital outlay as well.”

At the former St. James Church at 83-85 North Main St., Deerfield is seeking a developer to create between 30 and 60 apartments for adults ages 62 and older, with all units affordable to households at or below 60% of the area median income. The project is intended to serve as one of the key pieces of Deerfield’s municipal campus, alongside the 1888 Building renovation and Leary Lot improvements.

Residents appropriated $420,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to purchase the property at the 2023 Annual Town Meeting.

As part of the meeting with FRCOG and RDI, Dwight said FRCOG recommended Deerfield reach out to the developers who showed up to the site visit earlier this year, but didn’t submit bids.

FRCOG also recommended reaching out to the Conservation Commission about mitigation requirements for Bloody Brook, “so the town can more confidently identify an approach,” as well as connect with town counsel to see the flexibility of CPA money.

While RDI has concerns about the former St. James Church property, Dwight reported the developer expressed interest in Town Hall at 8 Conway St., which is out of the floodplain and will likely be vacant once work on the 1888 Building is completed.

There is a challenge, though, as some discussions about the South County Senior Center identify Deerfield Town Hall as a possible future site for the center.

“We explained that we had purchased St. James to not be dependent on the dominoes of the whole Town Hall moving thing,” Dwight said. “Nothing is set in stone. … Obviously we need to hear from the Selectboard and the Board of Oversight for the Senior Center. Everything is up in the air and I tried to convey this to RDI.”

Dwight said the current plan is to figure out the specific issues facing the project and then amend those, so that when a developer is ready and funding is available, the town can jump at the opportunity.

“We’re not giving up. We’re not going to stop. We’re going to shake the trees and get a firm understanding of the water,” she said. “We’ll keep working on it because, even though at the federal level things are unknown, we can be getting all of the groundwork done ahead of time, so when we can move, we will move.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.