WESTFIELD – The Community Preservation Committee voted for a second time Thursday night to release up to $25,000 to secure the exterior envelope of the city’s last remaining one-room schoolhouse before the onset of winter.
The Committee initially voted at its July 11 meeting to endorse the use of Community Preservation Act funding to preserve the one-room school built in 1862 contingent upon submission of an architectural study financed through the School Department, which owns the structure.
The funding request was presented to the City Council for appropriation at its Aug. 15 session and has been held in committee until the architectural study, with a cost estimate for restoration, was submitted.
That architectural study was discussed last night by the CPC members to determine amount needed to ensure the historic building does not collapse this winter before more extensive preservation work can be identified and financed.
City Planner Jay Vinskey said that the report and cost estimate is “scary” because the architects presented not only a basic needs list for immediate action and future preservation, but also included a number of options that significantly inflate the cost estimate.
“When you break it down, there is $200,000 for site work, paving, environmental controls, a septic system,” Vinskey said. “You can cross some of those items out. I took out a lot of those and that brought the (preservation work) down to about $137,000 just for the building.”
School Department Business and Technology Manager, Ron Rix, said the architects added a number of costs to turn the building into a “usable public building with septic and plumbing systems, handicapped access” that inflated the project cost estimate.
“What do we have to do right away not to lose the building?” Rix asked.
Rix said that answer to that question is to address issues that are causing water damage to the structure and its foundation. The slate roof is leaking around the chimney and stormwater is weakening the foundation.
“The $25,000 is to button the roof up and shore up the foundation so we don’t lose it,” Rix said.
Historical Commission Chairwoman Kitt Milligan said that alterations to make it an accessible public building would reduce the historical significance of the building, as well as substantially inflate the cost of the project.
“The Historical Commission’s point of view is that we are looking to restore it to a one-room school house,” Milligan said, “Heating and plumbing will degrade the historical significance. We need to save the building immediately.”
A timeline for action was also discussed by the CPC members. The appropriation still has to be approved by the City Council and the project may be subject to the state’s bid laws.
One option discussed is to break the work needed immediately into several contracts, one for the roof work and a second to stabilize the brick foundation to prevent further damage while the scope of the preservation work is identified.
“”There are immediate needs to secure the building and future needs to preserve it,” CPC member William Porter said. “Put a crib system in to support it instead of spending thousands of dollars to repoint the brick that will later be removed to install a concrete foundation. That would be relatively effective in stabilizing it and could be done at a much lower cost.
“How can we put something together to stop the water intrusio?,” Porter asked. “The building season is coming to a close rapidly.”
“I think this is a worthy project, an admirable goal that this committee should support,” Porter said before making a motion to release the $25,000 “for the emergency phase of this project.”
Vinskey said that he will request the City Council Finance Committee, through chairman, Ward 5 Councilor Richard E. Onofrey, to bring the appropriation before the full council for a vote. The City Council is slated to meet on Oct. 17, 2013.
