A Very Troubling Evening—Part Three

There were several discussions that left me troubled as I left the Feb. 16th Committee of the Whole Meeting.


Troubling Discussion # 3—The Old Church Building Near City Hall
Council returned to the topic of the old church building in anticipation of L&F’s upcoming discussion of the city’s 2010 capital improvements budget. The conversation about what to do with the building has been going on for a year now. It was nice to hear the newly elected council members weigh in on the topic for the first time.

Some background. The city bought the church property in 2007 after the head of Bass Energy told Mayor Coleman that the property was needed in order to put a gas well on the city hall property (that plan was later abandoned). The building has a leaking roof and is mold-ridden, unsafe, and uninhabitable. Mayor Coleman has repeatedly acknowledged, the city did not have any intended use for the building when the property was purchased. And, as several council members have put it: “We bought the property for the land, not the building.”

What was troubling about the discussion on Feb. 16th was the continuing, obdurate refusal by Councilman Frank Legan and Councilman Ed Hargate to embrace reality regarding the building--and that Mayor Coleman supported them, despite having stated last April that the building was “becoming an eyesore” and that he leaned “toward taking the building down.”

Councilman Hargate returned to his theme from a year ago, which basically came down to his preferring to allow the decrepit, unsafe building to continue standing rather than take it down and create what he called a “lawn”. Hargate dismissed suggestions that the property, by itself, had intrinsic value for the city and that the community might benefit from having green space in front of city hall, next to the new Highland Road pedestrian pathway.

Legan, too, returned to old territory. A year ago he began beating the drum about “exploring all options” before making a decision to tear the building down. It’s been a year now and Legan has yet to come up with a realistic, concrete plan for using the building or, more importantly, for funding its renovation and continued operation. At the Feb. 16th meeting, he finally conceded that the city couldn’t afford to restore the building (at an estimated $ 773,000 cost, not including interior renovations), but instead of embracing that financial reality, Legan engaged in pie-in-the sky speculation, arguing that the building should be allowed to stand because grant money might be available---from somewhere--for renovating it.

All I can say is that when he finds that illusive money tree, Legan should let the Park & Recreation Committee know about it; they surely could use some extra dough too.

A 2008 structural engineer’s report, which the city commissioned, lays out in blunt detail the substandard and decrepit condition of the building--- and the huge amount of money that it would take to merely bring the building up to code. (My October 2, 2009 blog contains a detailed discussion of that report.)

Significantly, although Legan was given permission during a September 1, 2009 Committee of the Whole meeting to use the city’s website to solicit suggestions from residents regarding possible uses for the old church building, only pictures of the building---and not the structural engineer’s report---were posted online. It was utterly misleading (and very disappointing) that Legan withheld that very relevant structural and financial information from residents.

Meanwhile, Legan and Hargate's stall and delay tactics mean that the unsafe, uninhabitable and mold-ridden building has spent another year deteriorating even further (it was sitting unheated, with a leaking roof, even before the city bought it in 2007).

As Councilwoman Lisa Stickan pointed out: “If this was a privately owned building, it would’ve been condemned and torn down a long time ago. The only reason it has not is because we (the city) owns it.”

This discussion has dragged on long enough. Enough with all the hand-ringing, the wearing of rose colored glasses and the speculating about money falling from the sky. It’s time for council to do what it was elected to do---make a decision and move on.
To read past discussions on the building:
http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/committee%20minutes/2009/04-21-09_council_committee_minutes.htm
http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/city_council/committee%20minutes/2009/04-21-09_council_committee_minutes.htm
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