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Cold Spring Board Reviews Grove Restoration Project
Delays caused by lack of historic designation affect all aspects of effort
by Kevin Foley
The slow pace of progress on the Grove Restoration project took up much of the weekly workshop of the Cold Spring Board of Trustees on Tuesday, October 30, 2007. "There is frustration throughout the community with how this project has been handled," said Mayor Anthony Phillips as he opened discussion of the effort to restore the four-story former rest home, which is generally believed to have significant historical value to the Village.
The failure to complete an application to the National Register of Historic Places is at the heart of the several year delay in moving the project forward according to meeting participants. Obtaining an historic designation is key to raising the funds necessary to restore the 19th century Italianate villa to it original form. "Without being on the Register, grants are difficult to get," said Mayor Phillips.
Steven Tilly, a Dobbs Ferry architect hired as a consultant on the project, laid the blame directly on the state's Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Tilly said he first saw an e-mail from a representative of the agency in 2005 indicating a clear intention to complete the voluminous paper work involved in seeking the historic designation. But, said Tilly, that has not occurred, and now, with a new administration having new priorities, he has been told the agency is not going to do it.
Tilly said he had reached agreement with the Grove Restoration committee to have his office complete the application process, which he said would probably take until early in the new year. He speculated the federal agency, part of the Department of Interior, might take six months to consider it but would ultimately approve it. "The Grove Restoration merits historic designation for a variety of reasons," said Tilly.
Mayor Phillips said he had asked Marie Early, a member of the Comprehensive Plan Special Board, to work on a $150,000 grant application to the Preserve America Foundation to jump-start the funding process. The Mayor acknowledged that the historic designation was necessary for success in this and other applications.
"Every time we drive by it's a reminder how we have to get going," said Tom Valentine, a member of the Grove Restoration committee, who estimated it would eventually take $2 million to complete the project.
Although there was consensus as to the value of the restoration, it could be seen fraying around the edges with the discussion becoming somewhat circular as proposals and ideas always came back to the need for the historic designation.
"There's a lot of people who want to knock it down," said Tom Rolston, who denied he was one of them despite being teased as such by the Mayor. Rolston's home is next to the boarded up structure. "It has been four years of waiting for something to happen," said Rolston, who urged a renewed effort to put "a real proposal together."
"We are talking about preserving the building, but for what purpose? A lot of people are asking what we will do it with it," said trustee Karen Dunn.
Tom Valentine said his committee had a general plan that included using the first floor of the building for a Cold Spring historic display with the second floor having both space for more display of Village artifacts and community meeting space. Valentine agreed that the Grove Restoration committee would have to work with the Cold Spring Historical Society and other groups to develop a more comprehensive plan.
For now, Valentine said the committee was more concerned about finding a way to repair the roof of the building which requires asbestos abatement work among other things. The Mayor said the Village was working with the committee to find a contractor who could do the work for a reasonable cost.
Anxious to maintain Village interest and enthusiasm for the project, the Mayor and Trustees agreed they would schedule a public hearing sometime in January to further explore ideas for the project.
In other business, the Board heard a report from Greg Phillips, Village Water and Sewer Superintendent on the ongoing search for sources of storm water in the sanitary system that occasionally causes the Village to be in violation
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