The Town has received a $90,000 grant to be used for a
Community Center in Spafford. Here are some excerpts from the Spafford Town
Board Meeting last Thurday, 12/13/01.
Mary Pirnie asked if an environmental impact study had to
be done first.
Gordon Ireland: Step One is to get title to the property
first. The rest is secondary.
Ireland: Everyone wants a store (at this location), but
under the circumstances it won't happen there. The property is in
disrepair. The parking lot is in the right-of-way of the road.
Mary Pirnie: What will it look like when Doris'
(building) is taken down?
Gordon Ireland: I have to do it one step at a time. First
phase first, then we'll work on the second phase.
Bourque: I'd like to see a plan first before we spend any
money, a specific plan of action.
Ireland: We have to have control of the property first.
Bourque: That's putting the cart before the horse.
Ireland: We've talked about it in generalities. You know
what it's going to look like. There's going to be a vacant lot there. You've got
to work with what you've got. The plan is to eventually demolish everything you
see there.
Bourque: Frankie (Marcheterre) may buy more property and
spread his mess around.
Pete Payntor: Any bank would require an environmental
hazard study before lending any money.
Ireland: If there's gas in the ground, Frankie didn't do
that.
Bill Vinzant: Gordon doesn't have the money to buy both.
We want to purchase Doris' (property) first. We need to ask ourselves, "Are
we better off with Doris' property gone?"
Dave Miller: I'm not going to talk about IF the store
burns. I'm going to talk about WHEN the store burns; it's just a matter of time.
The battle line is the church. It will take all of our resources to save it.
Merrill Clark: Frankie's (building) is cinder block.
Doris' (building) is all wood, and 2-story. Let's remove the immediate danger
(Doris's).
Pete Payntor: These are all good ideas, but Frankie will
look like a champ when Doris' is taken down.
Ireland: You've got to give me a chance to do what we've
got to do.
When asked when: Ireland said "No purchases until all our
ducks are in order." ....as quickly as I can.
Payntor: Within the next 6 months?
Ireland: I should hope sooner.
Ireland stated that Step 1: the purchase agreement will have
guidelines that will protect us (sale contingent upon cleanup). Step 2 is the
environmental study.
Vinzant: I move we support Gordon's efforts to move ahead
in this plan.
The Town will have an attorney draw up an agreement. Ireland
says he wants to push it along, hopefully by mid-March, to avoid the tax bill.
There are some back taxes now. (He said he "remembers when they purchased the
land for the future Veterans Memorial, the Town had to pay back taxes.")
Ireland: It takes a lot of meetings, and a lot of work,
but I'd like to move this along. I just hope to leave this place a bit better
than when I got here. If you don't make some move to improve your situation a
little bit, you're not going to change it.
