A few weeks ago on a visit to Boston, we visited several historic sights for the first time. Among them were Paul Revere’s home and the Old North Church that we all learned of as children in the famous Longfellow poem.
(By the way, the “two if by sea” and the “British are coming” were poetic license, not Revere’s real words. Longfellow was related to Revere’s ancestors by marriage, but those are for another time.)
What was amazing is that these historic sites were not saved by tax dollars. Relatives, persons and groups raised thousands of dollars to purchase and restore these sites to 18th century authenticity.
Today, you pay entry fees to the Revere home, buy souvenirs at a North Church store, and make voluntary donations. This money is largely responsible for the on going maintenance of these sites.
During the April City Councils Fuerst Farm discussion, I heard Mayor Landry request that a plan to save the existing buildings must include a funding and ongoing maintenance plan. Over the past few months several have stated their desire to maintain the status quo of the Fuerst Farm. Some have publically asked who was responsible for maintaining this site in the past. A web site published a report that implicates that the city failed to “fulfill its responsibility”. To date, no financial plan for repair and on going maintenance has been presented.
Long term there needs to be a maintenance revenue plan. It’s highly unlikely that the Farm will draw a comparable level of admission fees, souvenir purchases, and donations as the Revere properties. The levels of maintenance requirements, however, are probably much closer. Are future tax payers of Novi going to be left writing this check?
If a private funding plan is required for preserving the history of one of our First Patriots, why is it so unreasonable to expect the same for the Fuerst Farm?
Realistically, the taxpayers of Novi will be writing the check to support the proposed ‘community building’ on this site, if the Fuerst Farm isn’t preserved. They’ll also be paying for the $3,000,000+ building proposed by McKenna & Associates study, if it gets built.
In much the same manner as other historic buildings and sites are maintained, the Fuerst Farm COULD be kept through a private funding plan. Community-wide fundraisers, in conjunction with historic preservation grants, would raise more than enough to cover annual costs for this historic city landmark.
The City Council needs to give the Friends of the Fuerst Farm a reasonable opportunity to organize and raise financial support!
http://www.fuerstfarm.org
Getting “Realistic” is a problem when numbers are inaccurate. Checking the McKenna report $3,000,000 is neither the cost of a single building nor the cost of restoration of existing buildings. There is an $851, 000 NEW building in proposal B, and there is a $450,000 combined restoration ($200,000 in restoration) and reuse option for the South Barn in Proposal A.
The barns have a restoration price tag of about $200,000 each. According to Mr. McKay’s numbers to start his efforts in Rochester, that is not an outrageous number. (Mr. McKay is a speaker sponsored by Friends of Fuerst Farm.) If the buildings are there, they need to be restored and cared for whether a new building exists or not. If a new building exists, its cost of maintenance will probably be lower than maintaining 3 19th century type barn structures.
Finally, a “reasonable opportunity” from the City Council is largely undefined. The last study was 7 years ago. Again being realistic, it appears the definition of “reasonable opportunity” from City Council is a request for more time. But who has defined how much time is required? In restoration, time is not a commodity the Novi City Council exclusively owns.
If you attended the Friends of Fuerst farm presentation a few weeks ago, you recognize the large Edsel Ford Barn from Ron Campbells presentation (Oakland County Restoration). This large barn structure represented one of the most exciting and challenging opportunities in Oakland County. Over several years, Mr. Campbell?s efforts were successful in raising preservation dollars and getting work started. Unfortunately, the needs of the structure were more immediate than realized and were affected by our recent storms.
This is the Barn as it exists today.
Bottom line gets back to a plan to maintain and use these buildings. Today two of those buildings are performing a storage function for High School Athletics. This would be performed in a more safe and secure manner in a modern storage facility. Today the price of that storage is artificially low based on next to zero maintenance dollars.
It’s time for a plan and execution rather than talking about what COULD happen. If Council accepts the status quo and another Fuerst Farm report is all that results, Novi just waits for a catastrophe to hit a weakened structure at 10 mile and Taft. An equal scenario to what COULD happen.
In that case, the Board of Education can debate who is responsible for paying for lost athletic equipment.