GRAY – With money tight and taxpayers already paying down debt
on the renovation of Pennell Institute into Town Hall, the future
of historic Stimson Hall is unclear, even after a two-hour meeting
was held Monday to solicit public comment on the issue.
GRAY – Gray residents appreciate their historic buildings.
The town voted in 2008 to fund $2.4 million in restorations to the once-crumbling Pennell Institute on Route 100 in downtown. Now that building is a centerpiece of the town, serving as Gray’s new town hall.
Residents now face another decision regarding an old and important building in downtown. Stimson Memorial Hall, the stately 100-year-old building at the start of Route 26 in downtown Gray, is the focal point of a downtown redevelopment plan under consideration.
However, with money tight and taxpayers already paying down debt on the Pennell renovations, Stimson’s fate is a little less clear, even after a two-hour meeting was held Monday to solicit public comment on the issue.
Stimson Hall is owned by the town, as are the adjacent former town hall and former Gray post office. The three contiguous parcels are in the center of town, and despite their favorable location, private developers have yet to snatch up the parcels.
At the time of the vote to renovate Pennell, town officials said the sale of the town-owned properties could help offset the cost of the work at Pennell.
The town bought the post office in 2000 for $170,000 but it has sat vacant since. The former town hall got good use until last summer, when operations moved to Pennell.
Stimson was given to the town by the First Congregational Church of Gray many years ago. Stimson was used as a meeting place for the town’s numerous boards and committees until last year when the town leased the space for $6,000 a year to Covenant Church Fellowship. The church has taken care of the inside and attempted to paint the outside but the structure, with its four massive columns out front, continues to need repairs. The cost of those repairs remains unknown with best estimates in the $400,000 range.
But for many in the town of 7,000-plus residents, the building has significant sentimental and historical appeal, complicating matters when it comes to how the town will manage the property in coming years.
About 75 residents spent two hours giving their input on how the town can best use the three downtown properties to the seven members of the Community Economic Development Committee, the group tasked with envisioning future uses of Stimson as well as the shaping growth in the downtown area.
A similar design charette was held in November 2010, but little progress on a massive overhaul of area covered by the three buildings, known as the Monument Square Master Plan, has been made since, primarily because no buyer has come forward with an offer.
Among the few dozen proposals residents had regarding three properties, no love seemed to be lost for the old post office or former town hall. The feelings toward Stimson were mixed, however, with some residents saying it is an expensive liability while others want to salvage it at all cost.
Since it was once used as a library, some felt it would make an effective annex to the Gray Public Library. Others suggested the Gray Historical Society would make a natural tenant. Others felt the town should sell the property to a private entity for high-density housing or a restaurant or office uses. Others suggested demolishing one or more of the buildings to create a park.
With suggestions running the gamut, resident Fran Monroe felt the meeting added little that hadn’t already been discussed at last November’s hearing.
“They have nothing to take home with them from this,” Monroe said. “You’ve got one extreme to the other in terms of ideas. How much weight are you going to put on those? There was nothing new here tonight.”
Ed Libby, chairman of the Community Economic Development Committee, said the various suggestions were helpful and that the committee is also soliciting residents’ opinions via a printed survey mailed to each household in Gray last week. The same survey has been posted on the town’s website as well. Richard Barter, a committee member and a town councilor, said during a break in the meeting that he feels decision-makers needs to listen to town residents before making a move as serious as a downtown redesign.
“Citizens were notified of this discussion before there was any municipal plan,” Barter said. “And Gray citizens have been very irate in recent years about plans that are made and then they’re told about the plans. This way, we’re not giving them numbers up front, this is citizens’ input. Having this was really a huge step in terms of transparency and open communication.”
Libby said the underlying concern he heard Monday night was residents’ desire to know how much it would cost to fix the structural issues at Stimson Hall. Potential uses are almost moot if taxpayers don’t know how much repairs will be. However, he said, determining those repair costs will take money as well.
“The thing that popped out to me was people really need to know the cost it would take to truly renovate Stimson back to something sturdy that can be used for something,” Libby said.
The issue is a complex one, especially with taxpayer money in short supply. However, some residents, as evidenced by their comments Monday night, don’t want to lose the potential revenue leasing Stimson or the other properties could generate. Others would like to see the town take the lead in transforming downtown to stimulate economic development, while some see recent town efforts, such as the nearby Clark Block, as costly failures. These opposing viewpoints were not lost on former Councilor Mark Grover, who commented on the matter after the meeting.
“I can see people wanting to recoup expenses. I can see people wanting to gain revenue and I can see people wanting to invest, so it’s going to be a difficult balance,” Grover said. “My suspicion is it will come out somewhere in the middle with a public-private partnership where the public’s willing to do some investment if they see the property will be well-used and generate revenues. But that’s a difficult prediction to make at this point.”
Libby said the next steps the committee will make include “a whole lot of talking” and “a whole lot of organizing the data.” An immediate concern, Libby said, is “finding how much restoration will cost.” But, he added, “the price tag’s not cheap either just to get the assessments done properly.”
Stimson Memorial Hall is at the center of Gray’s downtown as
well as its residents’ attention in recent months as town planners
decide its future. A public hearing was held Monday by the
committee tasked with envisioning downtown in hopes of spurring
economic development. Residents’ views on how to address Stimson
and two unused adjacent buildings were wide and varied, prompting
some to say gaining consensus could be difficult. (Staff photos
by John Balentine)
Gray Town Councilor Pete Gellerson served as a scribe Monday
night writing suggestions residents posed for the future use of
Stimson Hall, the old town hall and old post office in Gray
Center.
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