The Select Board wants to pause the town’s request for $15 million in Community Preservation funds to help restore the aging Memorial Hall.
The move comes after Town Manager Derek Brindisi received a mixed response to the request at a Community Preservation Committee meeting on July 23. Members cited concerns about the amount of money and whether the proposal meets with guidelines for historic preservation under the Community Preservation Act.
The Community Preservation Committee considers requests for historic preservation, open space and recreation, and affordable housing. It allocates about $4 million a year, using money collected from a 1.5 percent surcharge on property taxes.
Tuesday, Bill Keohan, the Select Board’s representative on the Community Preservation Committee, urged it to ask the town to withdraw its request until a historic preservation study could be done. The committee can recommend funding, but Town Meeting must approve spending.
“The building is in need of repair,” Keohan said. “I’m very much in favor of supporting a level of restoration that is significant. That only benefits our downtown. At the same time, when you look at Community Preservation funds, you’re looking at a level of historical preservation that we have to be able to point to.”
Keohan argued that a report from a building conservation specialist could be requested at the October Town Meeting, instead of the $15 million Brindisi wanted. Funding for the restoration work could then be requested at the spring town meeting based on the report from the conservation specialist. Keohan plans to ask the Community Preservation Committee to table the request at its next meeting on Thursday and instead recommend an article at the October Town Meeting to pay for a historic preservation study.
“We want to make sure that that historical work that we’re doing is truly restoration, rehabilitation, and preservation” as required by the state’s Community Preservation Act, he said.
Select Board Vice Chair David Golden agreed.
Golden was chairing the Select Board in the absence of Chair Kevin Canty, who is traveling with a Plymouth delegation to the town’s sister city of Shichigahama, Japan.
Select Board members Dick Quintal and Deb Iaquinto agreed with Keohan and Golden, making it a unanimous request.
Memorial Hall, which is used for concerts, wrestling, police training, recreation programs and other events, was dedicated in 1926 to honor World War I veterans.
Brindisi was present at Tuesday’s Select Board meeting but did not comment on Memorial Hall.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.