Deerfield to vote on $3.8M for 1888 Building rehab

The 1888 Building viewed from North Main Street in South Deerfield.

The 1888 Building viewed from North Main Street in South Deerfield. STAFF PHOTO/CHRIS LARABEE

By CHRIS LARABEE

Staff Writer

Published: 10-04-2024 1:36 PM

DEERFIELD — A request to use $3.8 million in Community Preservation Act (CPA) money for the historic rehabilitation of the 1888 Building will come before Special Town Meeting voters on Monday.

The meeting will be held at Frontier Regional School at 6 p.m. Residents will consider the 1888 Building funding alongside eight other warrant articles.

With Article 5 on the warrant, Deerfield is seeking CPA funding to pay for the rehabilitation of the 136-year-old building at 67 North Main St. to turn it into modern municipal offices. If approved, the CPA money would supplement a $4 million congressional earmark from U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern that will be used to construct an addition on the west side of the building.

“We want to build a project that can be built with the money we have,” Selectboard Chair Tim Hilchey said in August. “We don’t want to borrow money.”

In total, with engineering and other costs included, the project is estimated at $8.5 million and is not expected to be funded with direct taxpayer dollars. The remaining balance not covered by the earmark or the CPA money would be covered by $650,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money.

With a $3.8 million CPA request, the project, if approved, would take up the majority of Deerfield’s approximately $4.5 million CPA fund balance. The Community Preservation Committee, Finance Committee and Planning Board have all recommended the project.

If completed, the project will bring all municipal offices under the two roofs of the addition and 1888 Building, and will also include a meeting room with a 49-person capacity. Rehabilitation work on the historic portion of the building includes brick repointing, ivy removal, repair of gutters and the removal of all exterior structures that were added over the years. Inside, there will be a full renovation, as all contaminants will be abated, mechanical systems will be modernized and the building will be made accessible.

“We do have a lot of people to accommodate in this building,” said Karen Michalowski, an interior designer with Kuhn Riddle Architects. “We tried to maximize every square inch of this building.”

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Prior to the 1888 Building vote, the first four warrant articles are basic housekeeping and transfer articles. Article 1 asks residents to pay off prior fiscal year bills and Article 2 asks folks to transfer rebate money received through rebates from the Deerfield Elementary School heating, ventilation and air conditioning project. Article 4 requests residents transfer $300,000 to the General Stabilization Fund.

Article 3, though, asks voters to appropriate $130,000 to complete restoration work required by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to address wetlands violations in town. Hilchey said the article will be passed over, as the town has identified other funding sources to pay for the work.

Article 6 is also a housekeeping article, as it requests that residents authorize the Selectboard to “convey, sell or otherwise dispose” of the St. James Church property. In the future, the town will undertake a request for proposals (RFP) process to seek proposals from private developers who want to build subsidized senior housing, according to Hilchey.

Articles 7 and 8 seek a permanent conservation protection on two parcels on Pine Nook and Old Pine Nook roads, which would designate the parcels as town forest.

The final article on the warrant is a citizen’s petition that would instruct the town to buy 300 electronic vote tabulators and other associated equipment for use at future Town Meetings, which the petition says will ensure votes are tabulated quickly and accurately.

“We believe that this investment is essential for the future of our town’s governance and will lead to better, more efficient and fair Town Meetings,” the warrant article reads. “We urge the town to act on this request and authorize the necessary funds for the purchase of electronic vote tabulators and the associated equipment.”

The Special Town Meeting warrant can be found at bit.ly/4euoWJZ. A recording of the September information session on the 1888 Building can be found at bit.ly/3zTDwLZ.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.