A Major Problem at the 11th Hour for Scranton Library
After overcoming numerous design and cost challenges, the plan to renovate the E.C. Scranton Memorial Library had finally landed on the right track, but just last week everything came screeching to a halt. The library needed final approval from a state historic group to release the $2 million in state bonds promised to the project, but the group is not happy with one key element of the project, leaving the total project design, cost, and timeline at risk.
The library project received a $1 million grant through the Connecticut State Library before the renovation project went to referendum in 2017. When the library applied for the grant, library officials said it was not made immediately clear that the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) also needed to sign off on the project design for the money to be released. SHPO had previously raised concerns that the Hull Building, which faces Wall Street, is not going to be saved and those concerns have not faded.
The problem is that not one, but two state grants, each worth $1 million, are tied into SHPO approval, according to Library Director Beth Crowley. The library received one State Library Grant and one State Construction Grant; the State Library has the authority to release both grants, which it won’t do without SHPO approval.
At the Library Building Committee meeting on Aug. 27, committee member Henry Griggs said he and a few others met with the two SHPO representatives on Aug. 23. While Griggs said the hope had been to point out the challenges of keeping the Hull Building set against all the other historic preservation elements of the project, Griggs said SHPO was not sold.
“The short story is they feel we should retain the façade of the Hull Building at the very least and they indicated they would be withholding approval until we addressed that question,” he said. “Despite the fact that we have so many things that we are doing to honor the history of the building and the neighborhood and libraries in general, it didn’t get us any points.”
Griggs said SHPO wants to see the historic streetscape preserved. He also said that SHPO has a “hierarchy of preference” when it comes to demolition of a historic building, which ranges from not leveling the building to some sort of mitigation option.
“It strikes me that our strategy at this point is we come up with a solid, professional estimate on the cost of retaining that façade and go back to them and say, ‘Here is the cost and for what we get, we don’t think it is worth it, so what else can we do to mitigate this problem?’” he said. “The great fear is this will cost time and or money to get this, but I honestly don’t know.”
The Hull Building
Griggs had previously said saving the Hull Building would have created Americans with Disabilities Act and functionality issues, and unbearably increase the project cost. However, with many committee members stunned by the size of the problem SHPO slapped on the project, the committee went through the exercise of determining what it would cost to save the façade of the Hull Building.
Project Architect Ken Best quickly pulled together a series of ink sketches on ways the façade could be saved. However, the overarching message in all options was saving that old brick façade negatively alters the structure in terms of floor to floor heights and where the windows would line up, loses seating and shelving space, and causes issues with lighting, the heating and cooling system, and the roof lines and drainage, just to start.
In addition to all of those issues, Best said the Hull Building, since it’s 100 years old and not structurally sound, would require numerous columns and supports just to support the façade. Best also said trying to separate the back of the building during demolition without damaging the front façade is going to be nerve-wracking.
Then there was the cost. Best said he and the cost estimator ran through it and landed on a price range of roughly $600,000 to $800,000 to save the building. However, committee members pointed out that other costs like project escalation and increased contractor and design fees should be factored in as well. If those costs are added in, the price tag to save one old brick wall hovers around $1 million, which committee member Billy Budd said is “just absurd.”
“It doesn’t make any sense when we look at how much money we are going to spend and what the result is,” he said. “We need to sit down with them and discuss this rather than let this go on for another six months or whatever.”
How Did This Happen?
Among town officials, SHPO has a reputation for being difficult to deal with. However, committee members tried to get a grip on how the project got this far without an understanding of SHPO’s concerns.
Selectman Scott Murphy, a liaison to the committee, asked when the library or committee last communicated with SHPO. Crowley said it was last summer under the previous project architect. Best, the current architect, said he sent SHPO updated designs that reflected the elimination of the Hull Building more recently, in late February of this year.
Best said SHPO had been very difficult to get a hold of and all committee members agreed that SHPO representatives had been flipping back an forth over what SHPO would or would not approve as it relates to the Hull Building.
Budd said it would be a good idea for the library to try to pull any and all past communication with SHPO so the committee can try to make a case that this situation is unreasonable.
“If all this is documented, is there anyone we can go to and say, ‘Do you really think this is a reasonable way to deal with a town doing a project in this scale and basically shining us on and ignoring us and then deep-sixing us at the 11th hour?’” he asked.
What Next?
The committee was hoping to wrap up all design documents by the end of the month, bid the project in September, and then break ground before the end of the calendar year. However, the library can’t sign any construction documents until this issue with SHPO is resolved, so the project timeline is now off track. As a result, the town has elected to postpone starting the bonding for the project, which was scheduled to begin Aug. 28.
Best said based on the conversation with SHPO, a key part of the conversation moving forward will have to be highlighting the enormous cost of saving the façade.
“They said if you stick with the Hull Building we can get you an approval real quick but if you don’t then this is going to take some time,” he said. “They didn’t imply, but there was a sense that based upon the cost of the project relative to the grant money that is being received, if the cost negates too much of the grant money, then they would consider an alternative.”
With the clock ticking, committee members decided the next move will have to be solidifying the potential cost implications of saving the façade and likely calling State Senator Ted Kennedy (D-12) and State Representative Noreen Kokoruda (R-101) for some help since they both helped secure one of the two grants for the library. Additionally, committee member Mark Rolfe said the committee is going to need to think of a bone to toss at SHPO because the financial issues likely won’t be enough.
“So if we play this out with the numbers and can agree that this is a hardship, we still need to offer them something, some kind of change or something because otherwise what is in it for them?” he asked. “We are just showing them it costs money and that is not really their concern. We need to offer some sort of concession that is going to at least show some good faith on our part.”