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Selectmen close auditorium
By Pru Sowers
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN — Selectmen officially condemned the Town Hall auditorium Monday night, agreeing not to let any groups use the facility because of concerns about its safety.
Although town Building Inspector Russell Braun said a report from a structural engineer raised serious concerns about the structural integrity of the auditorium, the engineer recommended that the 600-person capacity auditorium be limited to events with no more than 210 people.
“It’s pretty safe to say it’s usable at that capacity. I don’t think [the engineer] would stick his neck out,” Braun said.
Selectmen, however, were unwilling to take any chances. Mary-Jo Avellar, board of selectmen chair, said it would be “derelict beyond description” to let anyone use the auditorium.
“I can’t in good conscience allow anybody up there at all. I think it’s a terrible, terrible risk,” she said.
“When public safety is a concern, I would not rent it out at all,” added Selectman Michele Couture.
Selectmen had been debating what to do with the auditorium since March 24, when they received a report from McGinley Kalsow & Associates, the architects hired to assess the condition of Town Hall. According to McGinley’s structural engineer, Arthur MacLeod, principal of MacLeod Consulting, Town Hall was “dangerously overstressed” and the building should be closed by the end of this year unless significant progress had been made towards repairing the 122-year-old structure.
Fourteen organizations had applied to use the auditorium for events in 2008, including the Outer Cape Chorale, the Provincetown Jazz Festival and the Provincetown International Film Festival. All of the applicants will now have to find alternate venues.
One local artist, Sacha Richter, was particularly upset over the selectmen’s decision Monday night. He had planned on holding an exhibition of his photographs in the auditorium in August. Several of the 40 to 50 photographs he said he anticipated showing had been created specifically to be displayed in the auditorium.
“I’ve actually made some of the work part of the space so the space is part of the work,” he said. “It’s important to be in Town Hall. It feels like the hub of the town.”
Architects from McGinley Kalsow are scheduled to meet with selectmen on April 28 to outline estimated costs to repair the historic building. Town Manager Sharon Lynn said earlier that she wants to hold a Special Town Meeting this summer to ask voters to approve funding — likely a bond issue — for the project. Lynn said she hoped to have construction bid documents sent out by August and award the bid sometime in September with a start date for October.
In January, McGinley Kalsow presented a report to selectmen laying out dozens of structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection deficiencies that needed immediate attention. The report recommended 15 substantial repair priorities for the exterior of the building alone. In addition, while the boiler was in good shape, the report stated, the rest of the heating system, including ventilation, needed to be completely replaced. And the building’s fire protection, electrical and plumbing systems are “all near the end of their service life,” according to Wendell Kalsow from McGinley Kalsow.
psowers@provincetownbanner.com
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Apr 17th, 2008