CHESTERTOWN -- For decades, the men of the Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Division prepared for war inside the powder-blue corridors of this faded fortress, perfecting drills in the cavernous gym. Weekends when the soldiers weren't there, Chestertown's armory hosted basketball games, concerts - even the town's Christmas bazaar.

But the building has been quiet for more than two years, ever since the state's Military Department announced plans to sell it. Now, seemingly everyone in this close-knit town has an opinion on what should happen to the armory - which sits on waterfront property. Among the ideas: a hotel and conference center, a homeless shelter, administrative offices, an environmental laboratory, a party-rental place and a community center.

"All of these little special-interest groups have expressed interest in owning it," said Larry Leone, an operations manager for the Maryland Military Department. "We don't care who gets it - we really don't. It's supposed to be used to the best capabilities or interests of the community."

The lively debate here comes as the National Guard in Maryland and across the country moves to get rid of buildings the military no longer needs. In the 1920s and '30s, the Maryland Guard built armories in every county seat - sturdy, large facilities often in the center of town. But some are near other armories and no longer cost-effective to operate. Others, like Chestertown's, are in areas that don't draw many recruits because much of the nearby population is older.

The Maryland Guard has already sold 18 armories, many of them to counties and towns that get right of first refusal. Easton uses its old armory for community festivals; Denton's is being renovated into a county recreation facility; Bel Air's houses the town visitors center.

In those cases, the town or the county was willing to purchase the building. Not so in Chestertown, where city officials say they have no interest in owning the place. "We can't afford it. It's that simple," said Mayor Margo Bailey.

Kent County was in the running to acquire the armory, though the county didn't intend to keep it. Officials were planning to turn it over to construction company owner Roy Kirby, who has been developing a plan to tie the town's once-industrial waterfront into its downtown.

John Trumpy, Kirby's chief financial officer, said the company didn't have firm plans for the armory; officials mostly wanted to make sure the building didn't fall into the wrong hands and become a white elephant along the water.

"Certainly we had some ideas, but we never reduced them to paper," Trumpy said. "All we wanted was to continue to make Chestertown a great small town."

But when word hit the local papers of Kirby's interest, many residents became alarmed. Kirby, a Baltimore native who recently relocated here, has already bought much of the town's prime property.

For Chestertown furniture-maker Frank Rhodes, it wasn't Kirby's involvement as much as the idea that the armory would end up in private hands. Rhodes wanted the armory, with its magnificent views of the Chester River bridge, to remain a public place. He and his wife, Susan, wrote a letter to the local paper advocating the building be turned into a community center.

The couple was inundated with calls and e-mails supporting their plan. They formed a group, STAY - Save the Armory: Yes! - that would like to turn the armory into a green building, like an armory in Portland, Ore., that recently reopened as a theater.

STAY's outcry prompted Kirby to inform the county he no longer wished to proceed. That, in turn, prompted the Kent County commissioners to rescind their interest. So state officials agreed to give STAY a chance.

"We're working every avenue we can," Rhodes said. "It's just very time-consuming. You open up one door, and there are four doors on the other side."

Among the unresolved issues are whether the building, part of which was a maintenance shop, has any environmental problems. And because the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, the group needs to figure out how much it would cost to renovate within those guidelines.

The National Guard will ask about $500,000 for the property, though its assessed value is closer to $1.5 million, Leone said. Residents have offered donations, but Susan Rhodes said her group isn't taking money until it has more information.

With its quaint shops and restored Victorians, Chestertown has a reputation as a place where residents like things just as they are. As neighboring counties have welcomed sprawling developments and shopping centers, the town gained a national reputation for fighting off a proposed Wal-Mart.

Even so, the mayor said she never anticipated this "last-minute groundswell" of support for the armory. Some residents and town officials have privately groused about STAY, saying that Kirby could quickly have turned it into a tax-paying property.

Nearly half of Chestertown's property isn't taxable: a hospital, county offices and Washington College are all there.

The college has been trying to buy the armory for at least two years, said its president, Baird Tipson. It has long used the facility for basketball games and would consider relocating its environmental center there or using it as storage for books when it renovates its library. The gym could accommodate school parties. But like Kirby, Tipson agreed to stand down and let the community group figure out what it wants to do.

"A lot of this is just kind of mysterious," Tipson said of the process. "We send letters off to the appropriate people. Sometimes we get an answer, sometimes we don't. We're never really sure who's going to make the decision."

A few years ago, Caroline County officials considered passing on the armory in downtown Denton until some residents persuaded them to seek state money to buy and renovate the building, which had long been used as a county recreational facility. The process has taken more than six years and will cost more than $2 million. But for Sue Simmons, county director of recreation and parks, there's no question buying the armory was the right thing to do.

"People asked, 'Can we really afford this?' I guess the flip side of that is, 'Could we afford not to?'" said Simmons. "If the county didn't buy it, what was it going to turn into?"

Bailey, Chestertown's mayor, believes that the town's Planning Commission will make sure whoever owns the building puts it to good use. But she doesn't expect speculation on the armory's future to die down anytime soon.

"The best part of this community is that people really care what happens here," she said. "I'd rather have people involved - even if they are annoyed."

rona.kobell@baltsun.com