Killington board gives approval for historical society to use former teen center

By Josh O’Gorman
STAFF WRITER | June 06,2013

 

KILLINGTON — The Select Board has voiced its support for what promises to be an uphill battle to transform the teen center into a home for the Sherburne Historical Society.

“I’d rather see this building remain standing and used for this purpose than demolish it,” said Chris Bianchi, chairman of the Select Board, during a meeting Tuesday night.

The teen center is really only that in name. The building in question was built as a schoolhouse in Bridgewater sometime during the 19th century. At some point during the latter half of the 20th century, the town bought the building for $10 and paid another $40 to move it to its current location.

The building was home to the town library, and later the Killington Teen Center, which has been inactive for at least the past three years. In 2011, flooding from Tropical Storm Irene damaged the building.

The town has $10,000 remaining in flood insurance money. By coincidence, the town has received an estimate to demolish the building for $10,000.

The Sherburne Historical Society received a $250 matching grant from the Preservation Trust of Vermont — matched by a loan from the town — to pay a contractor recommended by the Preservation Trust to survey the building’s condition. Town Manager Seth Webb discussed the results of that survey during Tuesday’s meeting.

The greatest problem the building faces is its foundation, which is cracked and leaks water. The building does not contain any kind of heating system. According to Webb, to fix the foundation and make repairs sufficient enough to use the building during warm-weather months would cost an estimated $77,050. Renovations to allow year-round occupation — which would require the installation of a heating system, insulation and new drywall — would cost an additional $25,000 to $30,000.

Webb called these estimates conservative, a position echoed by Selectman Bernard Rome, who said he believed repairs would cost more than the estimates provided.

“The immediate challenge is that we have $10,000 left in insurance money, but that’s not enough to bring the building up to speed,” Webb said.

Margaret Mowle, president of the Sherburne Historical Society, said her organization will write grants to make up the remaining amount.

“We’d like the $10,000 in flood money, but what we really want is acknowledgement the Historical Society can take over the building,” Mowle said.

“If the $10,000 gets you in the building faster, I think that’s a good thing to do,” said Bianchi.

Time-wise, there will be no quick fix. May is the deadline for many grant applications, meaning the Historical Society is looking at waiting a year to apply for grants that would not be awarded until later in 2014. The delay might be a blessing, because many grants require matching funds, funds which will need to be raised by the Historical Society.

“This is a big thing we’d be getting into and I don’t want to be misleading about the cost,” Webb said.

Comment:
Hopefully the Historical Society can fund the renovation through grants and private fund raising. The problem is stabilizing the building until then. As stated in the above article it will likely take a year at least to get through the grant process. Given that one of the major problems with the building is water and condensation build up due to a compromised foundation and leaky roof, the cost to mitigate the resulting mold infestation would increase the current estimated cost.
One thing not mentioned in the article is that Chamber of Commerce member and recent appointee to the EDTC Bill Mercier , speaking on behalf of the Chamber, stated the Chamber was fully supportive of the Historical Society's efforts and is setting aside space in the property formerly known as Bill's Country Store for the Historical Society. While that's all nice and goodIf they're setting aside space in Bill's Country Store what do they need the Teen Center for? It's all very confusing until you look at it through the prism of public relations.  To me this Chamber endorsement is just a blatant publicity stunt to garner goodwill for the Bill's Five who want their Visitor's Center project subsidized by the town. Now we have the fox in the chicken coop as well since Mr. Mercier, the Chamber liaison to the EDTC has been appointed to the EDTC.

Hopefully this situation does not result in further funding fiascoes as we have with the golf course, the Fireside property, Bill's Country Store, the squandering of the 1% tax and so on. But don't bet on it. My money is on someone coming to the town at some point with their hand out.
And speaking of the Visitor's Center - I thought the idea of Economic Development and Tourism was to get people to come here. The Visitor's Center is not going to attract people, it's going to be used by people who are already here. 

Vito