Barn grant application denied
Date: 7/19/2013
By Carley Dangona
carley@thereminder.comAGAWAM — School Street Barn will remain as is, exposed to the elements and without funding to complete minimal reinforcements needed to remain standing.
At the end of June, Deborah Dachos, director of Planning and Community Development, received word that the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) had denied the application for a $100,000 grant for the barn.
In February, the City Council approved $315,000 of Community Preservation Funds (CPA) to reinforce the School Street Barn, contingent upon the MHC grant being award to the project.
When asked what the next step is, Dachos told
Reminder Publications that now is not the time to seek funds because she did not believe the funds were available at this time [due to the start of a new fiscal year].
“I will most likely wait until the fall,” she said, adding that she would have to again bring the matter before the council to receive CPA funds.
According to Dachos, efforts began in 2002 to restore the School Street Barn. The total funds of $415,000 would have paid for the cost of a new foundation, first floor framing, new siding and insulation, new roofing, exterior doors and windows and a handicapped lift.
Without funding to reinforce its structure the barn will be subject to the elements and will continue to deteriorate.
The Planning Board was slated to address the issue of medical marijuana at its July 18 meeting.
An ordinance proposing a temporary moratorium has been drafted for the board’s review, according to Dachos. She said that the board would determine the length of the moratorium and its start date.
Massachusetts became the eighteenth state to approve medical use of marijuana in the Nov. 6, 2012 election. The law became effective Jan. 1. On May 24, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health published its guidelines regarding the issue.
