NORWAY — Town officials continue to move forward with plans to stabilize the Opera House despite unresolved court issues between former owner Barry Mazzaglia and the town and the lack of a contract with the Department of Economic Community Development for a $150,000 grant to help pay for the work.
“The town has been given the OK to develop the specific plans for the stabilization and expects to submit these to Tammy Knight at DECD in a week or two,” said Town Manager David Holt, who will be attending Community Development Block Grant training this week.
Work on the building, which is expected to begin later this summer or fall, cannot begin until the town gets the state funding, said Holt. The funds for the grant were not expected to be available until after July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
A portion of the Opera House roof collapsed on September 21, 2007, severing a sprinkler pipe, which flooded first-floor occupied spaces in the building and compromised the stability of the building. Since that time, officials have grown increasingly concerned about the stability of the building and lack of response from the owner, who has turned down offers from the town to purchase the building several times.
Two engineering studies have deemed the structure to be “unsafe to the public and neighboring property,” and officials have become convinced that the structure continues to deteriorate, causing not only an unsafe situation for downtown but an unfavorable economic one.
Voters will also be asked to approve a CDBG application for the Public Facilities Grant Program of up to $150,000 to be used to further stabilize the building.
The 17,618-square-foot building, which sits on about a quarter-acre land parcel has been appraised at $185,000 by Patricia Amidon of Amidon Appraisal Co. in Portland. It includes a one-story and three-story building with a full basement and a four-story clock tower containing a historic clock and bell.
An engineer hired by the town two years ago said part of the roof had fallen because of the failure of several of the 17 supporting trusses that span 60 feet and carry the load of the roof, the ceiling and third-floor balconies. Officials say no one can say for certain what direction the building would fall if the back wall collapsed under the strain.
According to the impact statement by the town in the DECD application, a collapse could send thousands of bricks into the Pennesseewassee Stream, which flows directly behind the building, or fall into path of an estimated 12,000 cars that pass it on Main Street every day, or cause damage to one or more of the adjacent buildings, which make up the Norway Village Historic District. Any of the scenarios would pose a threat to neighborhood residents and visitors.
The building was sold by the town to a private owner in the 1970s, and by 2003 was named by Maine Preservation as one of the state’s most endangered historic properties.,
Although the total rehabilitation of the Opera House is considered a multi-year, multi-million-dollar task, officials said the town will shore up the 60-foot-high back wall and fix the roof before finding a new owner who has adequate resources to renovate the building.
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