Facebook Update by S.O.S on planned demolition of J. A. Smith High School Building. An S.O.S. “Save our Smith” public meeting was held on Sunday evening, December 28, 2014 for people interested in saving the Smith school from demolition. Finding viable alternatives for the use of the Smith facility that would result in saving the J. A. Smith High School Building from demolition is the primary objective. The meeting resulted in the attendees having an open-honest dialog with other attendees including Mr. Jon Saxton, Superintendent of Chillicothe Schools and Mr. Steve Mullins, President of the Chillicothe School Board who also attended the meeting. The meeting was well attended by SOS members and other concerned citizens who actively participated in the discussion. The S.O.S. spokesman presented the S.O.S. objections, objectives, arguments and proposals, regarding the advisability of proceeding with the proposed school demolition. Mr. Saxton responded by outlining the objectives, the activities that the school board and administration have taken over the last four or five years in their meetings, responding to questions, investigating options and the current status of the boards master planning, rational and schedules for the currently planned demolition of the old J. A. Smith High School. A. The S.O.S. arguments presented at the meeting are summarized below. They point out the need for more public involvement in the process of deciding Smith’s future. They do not include all subjects and considerations that the S.O.S. Group believes should be included in a fresh dialogue with the Board of Education and the School Administrators. It is hoped that the Chillicothe School System will agree to work with the S.O.S. Group during the coming months, and prior to the award of any demolition contract, in order that further study and public meetings may help the entire community in joining together to find the best solution for Smith, our students, and the Citizens of Ohio’s First Capital. Several points that were made at the meeting by the S.O.S. spokesman are addressed below: 1. Smith is a Landmark Building and no landmark should ever be destroyed without a complete public evaluation of its importance to the community. The demolition of a landmark building without such an evaluation would send a message to our children that our architectural heritage can simply be wasted, that it is of no importance. a. The Smith school building was designed and built to last in excess of 100 years. In the 2010 – 11 initial evaluation of Smith (by Schooley Caldwell) the evaluation concluded that Smith, including a new addition, could be renovated to meet all requirements for a new school at costs no greater than building new. The result would be a “better than new school”. This is because Smith is built better than anything we could build today. It remains structurally sound, and even though the existing classrooms are separated by hardened walls they can be modified to provide a newer more flexible class room layout and modern systems and teaching aids. The existing three story masonry structure can be brought up code to meet the latest building, fire, safety and access codes. One of the main cost benefits of the existing building is that the existing walls, roof and floors are in-place in good condition and useable. b. We can never again afford to construct such a building as Smith. The estimated replacement cost for the original portions of Smith, in its current condition, would be in excess of thirteen million dollars (source: Schooly Caldwell and Associates, Columbus OH and Moody Nolan, Architects and Planners, Columbus OH). The sentimental value of Smith is not the reason for conducting additional evaluations of alternatives to demolition. It is the economic value of this building to the community, which includes the school system that dictates additional study. Smith is an irreplaceable example of Georgian Revival architecture. This style of architecture was chosen by the 1930 Chillicothe Board of Education in the midst of the Great Depression because it exemplified the importance of connecting our young to the earliest days of our country and the vision for responsible citizenship held by our Founding Fathers. This is the architecture of Independence Hall (Philadelphia PA), of Williamsburg and historic Boston! c. Architecture is the primary manifestation of our cultural heritage. Another important reason that the Smith school not be demolished is that is imperative that we show our students the importance of honoring, respecting and preserving our unique American heritage by giving Smith every possible chance of being passed on to future generations (whether used as a school, or for other purposes). This is the best way to develop pride in community, a true sense of place, and to perpetuate common memory, which is the cement that bonds generations together over long periods of time. The Chillicothe Board of Education of 1930 understood the importance of these considerations. Shouldn’t our current Board of Education respect and honor the foresight of their predecessors? B. Potential alternative uses need to be more fully examined by the community in partnership with the Board of Education and the City Schools Administration. a. With great respect for the time and effort the School Board and Administration have devoted to this subject, the S.O.S. Group believes that specialists in the field of adaptive use of historic buildings are very likely to provide new and financially responsible opportunities for adaptive use that have not yet been thoroughly studied (including school uses, non-school uses, or possibly a combination of both). Other communities have followed a similar process. b. The S.O.S. Group is hereby offering to assume all costs relating to the completion of such an analysis and submission of the findings and recommendations to the board within ninety days of permission to proceed. The Board and Administration will be fully informed of all professionals and firms to be involved in this process. The terms of the proposed “agreement to proceed” would be negotiated among the parties. C. Innovative financing opportunities need further study. a. The S.O.S. Group has assembled a team of financing experts with expertise in both public and private funding for major renovation projects, including schools, court houses and other public use buildings. b. One example of innovation is in the application of cost percentages used by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC, successor to the Ohio School Facilities Commission). The school administration has stated that it would take around 78 percent of the funding used to build a new building to renovate it. We assume the 78 percent statistic comes from the latest OFCC. The comparison to OFCC new construction is part of a physical assessment of the building and its systems. If the % is above 75%, OFCC “rules” only suggest demolition and replacement, with funding at the 100% level. However, IF a community requests renovation of an historic school, OFCC will allow up to 100% of its current level of funding to do so. In addition, they would likely fund renovation of the auditorium, since it is existing, even though a new one would not be included in a new structure. In the process, the building would be brought completely up to code. Many communities have followed this procedure in renovating historic schools with great success. c. The S.O.S. Group believes there are financing alternatives available that merit further investigation including, but not limited to, several forms of public/private partnerships. These include the structure of a “Port Authority” and the utilization of very significant historic tax credits to finance major renovation costs d. The primary qualification for utilization of the historic tax credits is the eligibility for being listed on the National Register of Historic Places (which is nearly certain and can be officially confirmed within 30 days). These credits alone can amount to 45% of renovation costs. D. THE OPTION OF COST EFFECTIVE MOTH-BALLING (ESTIMATED AT ABOUT $150,000) HAS NOT BEEN CONSIDERED. Many communities have learned the economic benefits of preserving architectural resources through professional moth-balling, thus preserving such resources for future use. Moth-balling, when completed in accordance with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s standards, secures a building from weather damage and vandalism on a long term basis (if necessary) while dramatically reducing liability exposure. E. LET THE COMMUNITY DECIDE! The Board of Education holds Smith School in Trust on behalf of the Citizens of Chillicothe, who are the real owners of Smith. It may be that after all of the above potential courses of action are further evaluated, the issue of Smith School’s future may be decided by a community vote, based upon the most viable opportunities known at the end of the proposed study period. Another meeting of the S.O.S. group is scheduled for Sunday, 01-04-15 at 4:00 PM, at Dard Hunter Studio near the corner of Walnut and Water St. public invited. For further information or direction on how you may sign one of the petitions that are currently being circulated please contact either one of the S.O.S. Group interim co-chairs as follows: Loren Mead – 740-656 8521 John Payne -
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 20:44:46 +0000
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