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County gives Hooper House to preservation groupBy Lisa Majors-Duff |
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Herald photo by Lisa Majors-Duff Reviewing plans for the renovation of the 95-year-old Hooper House are, from left, Cullowhee architect Odell Thompson; SPIR and Hooper House Preservation Foundation President Jay Spiro; Chamber of Commerce vice chairman Jay Coward; and Rusty Edwards of Sylva's Wachovia Bank, which awarded the project $25,000 through its Percy Ferebee Endownment Grant. Foundation members received a deed to the downtown Sylva property Monday and plan to start work on the house in April. |
Jackson County commissioners guaranteed two things Monday night - the Hooper House will be preserved and the public library expansion will be put on hold.
Through a succession of 4-1 votes, commissioners deeded over the entire Hooper House tract on Sylva's Main Street to members of the Hooper House Preservation Foundation, agreed to transfer $50,000 to the group and said an expansion of the library cannot take place at its current location. Chairman Jay Denton said he called Monday's special meeting of the board to relay new information about the planned library expansion and what effect it might have on the Hooper House property. He also wanted commissioners to make some decisions about the adjacent structures, which have been a topic of discussion for many months. |
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Rick Lee, the Waynesville architect retained by the county for the library expansion project, pointed out to the board that both the library and Hooper House parking lots would be required to increase library space by 8,000 square feet at a cost of $1 million. Another option explored included using only the library parking lot for a two-story addition at a cost of $1.5 million, he said.
Denton then explained the financing options available as outlined by the Local Government Association, the state agency charged with approving county loan requests. According to a representative with LGC, commissioners would be allowed to borrow $1 million for their library expansion and use general fund money to make up the difference for the two-story model; they could reduce the size of the project; they could scrap the project; or they could do the project as originally submitted, using both parking lots for the single-story addition. At this point Commissioner Stacy Buchanan added another option to the table - build a new library in another location. He proposed the board continue with plans to borrow $1 million for the library, sell the current facility and look for a new location, preferably within the Sylva city limits. "I ran on the idea of being proactive for the county, not reactive," Buchanan said. "We should build for growth over the next 20 to 30 years, and none of (the chairman's) options take care of that." Both Commissioners Buchanan and Conrad Burrell agreed that the question of what to do with the Hooper House and the needs of the library were not necessarily the same. They agreed with Commissioners Roberta Crawford and Franz Whitmire that the 1905 structure should be preserved by the non-profit foundation and used for a variety of cultural and tourism functions. Although Chairman Denton also voted in favor of transferring the property, he said after the meeting he made a mistake. "Voting 'yes' was an error on my part," said Denton, who openly admitted being against giving away county property. "My number one concern is to expand the library," he said. "Another concern I have is for the best interest of the county. I will do whatever I can to keep as much of (the Hooper House) property as possible. I committed to keeping the library downtown even at the expense of the Hooper House." Once the decision to deed over the Hooper House was made, commissioners considered Buchanan's recommendation to move the library off Sylva's Main Street. County librarian Jeanette Newsom agreed that an expansion smaller than what is needed, with the added downfall of losing the parking lot, would be reason enough to wait for a new location. This point was addressed by Cullowhee architect Odell Thompson, who distributed a conceptual drawing of a new library overlooking Scotts Creek and the newly remodeled Sylva park. Thompson, who is working with the Hooper House Foundation on its renovation, drew the new library on property owned by Sylva Herald Publisher Jim Gray. "I'm willing to talk about selling the lot," Gray said Tuesday. Gray's half acre is located on Railroad Avenue between the town parking lot and the Lifeway Church (the former Sylva Coal and Lumber). Buchanan outlined several steps to take to make up the extra funds needed to build a new library, including meeting jointly with Sylva officials and seeking grant funding. A new library of 18,500 square feet, not including the cost of property and site work, would cost nearly $3 million, Lee said. "I have concerns with borrowing the money and not having a plan (for the library)," Denton said before casting the only "no" on this point, a position he held when it came time to allocate the previously approved $50,000 to the Hooper House preservation project. Board members received praise for their decision to save the Hooper House from audience members, who included town of Sylva officials and members of both the Chamber of Commerce and Travel and Tourism boards. "We are in support of the library," Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver said. "We will do what we can to help." "I appreciate the struggle the board has had with this project," said Gail Finley of the Fontana Regional Library system. "Thank you for looking at all sides of this issue." "Thank you for sticking with it and for your vision for the future," Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Julie Spiro said. |
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