Fayetteville Council Made the Right Choice

To the Editor:

Pat Johnson’s letter in the previous issue of The Record takes issue with Fayetteville City Council’s unanimous decision to permit dismantling and reconstruction of the old E.J. Knesek building as a Community Center and Performance Theater to serve the city and surrounding area. City Council’s decision overrides the recommendation of Fayetteville’s Historical Preservation Advisory committee on which Ms. Johnson serves. I am acquainted with several members of the Historical Preservation committee and respect and appreciate the good work they do advising City Council. On this issue however, I believe City Council, the ultimate authority, was correct to override their recommendation.

First, after extensive examination and analysis, engineering consultants retained by the Community Center board have opined that the old building will require a good deal more money to restore for public use than to dismantle and rebuild for public use. The rub is that problems with the foundation are nearly impossible to fix while the existing building sits on top. One can imagine the difficulty, cost and risk of trying to pick up a 148-year-old, wood framed building of enormous size when for good measure, it’s already in an advanced state of decay.

Second, contrary to the image of wrecking balls that Ms. Johnson’s words like “demolition” call up, the Community Center Group intends to carefully dismantle the existing structure and set aside sound material for re-use in the new structure. When it’s finished, the replacement structure will be historically accurate, will look just like the old and will employ those pieces from the old that are salvageable. Furthermore, the new building will be lower cost and, owing to modern construction codes and methods, will be structurally sounder, longer-lived and superior in many other respects than if it were “restored” piecemeal in the conventional way.

Third, denying this application and forcing current and possible future owners into an economically unjustifiable position opens the real possibility that nothing at all will be done with the building. If so, instead of enjoying a new, historically accurate community center and performance theater, the city could be saddled with a large, useless, permanently derelict and decaying structure right on the square. How will this attract new citizens or enrich the lives of present ones?

The Fayetteville City Council made the right choice in permitting the dismantling and reconstruction of this classic building.