NORWAY — Selectmen have agreed to hold a special board meeting next week to discuss the appraisal of the damaged Opera House and what steps they may initiate to save the 1894 building on Main Street.
The meeting has been tentatively set for 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, depending on whether the appraisal, which was done almost three weeks ago, is received by that time.
"I'm just concerned it's going to snow before too long and the Opera House may not withstand it," Selectman Bill Damon said. Patricia Amidon of Amidon Appraisal Co. in Portland conducted the appraisal on the three-story brick building's interior last month.
In September, an Oxford Hills Superior Court judge ordered Opera House owner Barry Mazzaglia of Londonderry, N.H., to give the town access to do an appraisal. The appraisal is one of the steps the town must take to establish a fair market value if town officials choose to try to take the building by eminent domain, said the town's attorney in this case, James Belleau of Auburn.
Town Manager David Holt told the board that should it decide to take the building by eminent domain, the action still must be approved by a special town meeting.
The town hired Amidon last year to do an appraisal of the imposing landmark as part of the town's efforts to force the owner to stabilize the structure. Mazzaglia refused to let her inside the building, forcing officials to go to court to get the order.
A portion of the Opera House roof collapsed on Sept. 21, 2007, severing a sprinkler pipe, which flooded first-floor businesses and compromised the stability of the building. The building has been deemed "unsafe to the public" in two structural engineering studies.
Mazzaglia purchased the Opera House in 2003 for $225,000. He has turned down repeated offers by Selectman Bill Damon to fund the purchase by a local group for $200,000.
Officials say they are concerned that the weight of snow on the roof could cause the building to collapse. An engineering study two years ago said there should be no more than 12 inches of snow or ice on the rooftop at any time.
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