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Date: 6/14/2022
LEVERETT – Article 22 of Annual Town Meeting on April 30 asked voters to authorize the sale of the Field Building to a nonprofit for a dollar. Resident Ann Ferguson thought the town should keep the building, an historic property and town asset, and convinced voters to table the article.
Now the town has a difficult set of circumstances with the structure housing the Field Museum, filled with the town’s irreplaceable artifacts. Time is of the essence, according to resident Tom Robinson, because those artifacts are in danger.
“What’s happening right now, as we speak,” Robinson said, “that building is filled with irreplaceable historical artifacts, and those artifacts are being exposed to the conditions of that building, and they’re being ruined. We’re losing our history as we speak.”
Ferguson appeared before the Select Board on June 7 with a five-step plan of action. Ferguson suggested the town secure an impartial facilitator or two, create an ad hoc committee, then gather ideas from the Historical Commission and other preservation groups in town, other town bodies, and residents. A report to the Select Board and discussion of the findings should follow, including which options received the most favor.
The board would then crystalize the parameters of the study funded for $30,000 by Article 21 at Town Meeting. That money will draw from Community Preservation Act fund the town has on hand, which is sizable. Lastly, armed with data on residents’ preferences, the board would hire a consultant to help figure out the town’s next steps with the building.
Ferguson acknowledged the next step may be to sell it. The process that resulted in Articles 21 and 22, however, did not feel transparent and inclusive of all stakeholders. Ferguson’s concern also germinated after disputes arose among those involved in the town’s preservation efforts. The Historical Commission and Historical Society submitted a large grant application to address issues in all three of the town’s historic buildings, including the Moore’s Corner School House, the Field Museum, and the North Leverett Sawmill and Dam. That grant, she said, may not address the town’s needs.
“That had been rushed through various town committees,” Ferguson said of the $1.2 million grant application. “It wasn’t investigated as to what implications that kind of economic development would have for the town. Some of us … weren’t sure we wanted that kind of adaptive reuse for our town centers, rather than economic development elsewhere.”
The structure is in such bad shape that options may be limited. Robinson briefly described the problems and the fixes itemized under a grant application to update the building, submitted to the town’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) in 2016. That application for $90,000 was not awarded, but suggested the extent of repairs necessary.
“When I talk about significant issues,” Robinson said, he meant “completely replacing the roof, complete masonry repairs to chimney and foundation, replace ramp decking, paint exterior, complete (the) repairs to plaster and rear walls.”
The structure isn’t the only problematic piece of the puzzle, according to Richard Nathhorst, a resident knowledgeable of construction requirements. He threw a significant caveat into the discussion when he said, “The town could still get a lot of beneficial use out of that structure, but probably not where it’s currently located.”
The Field Building sits on lot 214 at 1 Shutesbury Rd. Nathhorst shared an assessor’s map showing the building and land. The parcel, Nathhorst said, is about half wetlands.
“If we are going to do anything with this building,” Nathhorst said, it will require “a code legal septic and water system in it, and you cannot do either one of those things on the current site. There is simply not enough dry land to do it.”
Nathhorst, who noted the Field building is the only one of the three main historic properties still owned by the town – the other two are owned by non-profits—suggested moving the structure to a large piece of land near the school, library and public safety buildings. Facilities and parking are available at the location. He called Granite State Building Movers to get a ballpark estimate of the cost.
“There is 16.47 acres of land at that site,” Nathhorst said, “and we have both public quality wells and septic systems at the site, and it can, in fact, be moved three quarters of a mile up the road to this site.”
Tom Hankinson, chair of the Select Board, corralled the discussion back to the topic: whether to create an ad hoc group to study the puzzle of factors with the building, the town’s needs and financial constraints. Vice Chair Melissa Colbert was sympathetic to the desire to save historic materials and said, “I’m very concerned about losing these assets while we’re doing this.”
The Select Board voted 3-0 to create an ad hoc committee to consider the disposition of the Field building. Robinson, however, couldn’t contain his frustration with the town’s tightfisted CPC.
“The estimate back in 2016, the basic corrective actions, was $90,000,” Robinson said. “What’s that $90,000 in 2022? Probably double that. But the CPC money has been sitting there, to make these corrections, and it’s not being activated. That’s the frustrating part.”