Residents of Redfield Parkway appeared before Batavia City Council on Monday night to petition for repairs to the 105 year old stone pillars at Redfield Parkway and West Main street.
Link to video of entire meeting:
While the pillars may look good from the street, if you look closer the mortar that holds the stones together is falling out.
“The pillars are getting tired,” says resident Jim Owen.
“With the weather we have here we have contraction and thawing which causes the pillars and the mortar and the stone to fall apart.”
Over the years the City of Batavia has made repairs according to City Manager Jason Molino, but the repairs were made incorrectly.
Six years ago, Redfield resident Kathy Owen, working through the Historic Preservation Commission, submitted three estimates to the City for stone restoration. Price estimates were between $16,000 and $30,000, with some estimates being very specific and others not as specific as far as the scope of work to be done.
“Six years and nothing has happened,” Owen told Council.
“It’s time for City government to assign funds needed to restore rather than tear down one of it’s landmarks.”
“Don’t let them decay to the point that the City Parks shelters did,” Redfield resident Don Fryling says.
“That was a travesty in my judgement where they had to be removed. Please repair them.”
“There are very little character items left in the City, the one thing that comes to mind is the decision to reshape our downtown. By losing the character buildings from old Main street in favor of the mall, we can’t go backwards,” says Redfield resident Jim Fitch.
“The pillars are a similar decision. If they are allowed to disappear through lack of repair and maintenance they will be gone forever.”
Kathy’s brother, Jim Owen told council to do the right thing, get it repaired.
“I would like to see it repaired maybe by spring time, because as we wait, day by day, hour by hour they are starting to fall apart and if we get it repaired now, before the disaster I think it would be acceptable.”
“To me the pillars are all of one entity as they have been the gateway to the VA area for years, says Fitch.
In the six years that has passed since Kathy Owen submitted her estimates for repair, the City discovered that two of the columns are located on private property. One is on the land of Jim and Kathy Owen and the other is on the property on Mike Riggi.
City Manager Jason Molino says the City has three options in the ownership issue.
- get a permanent easement
- homeowners dedicate the small piece of property to the City
- three different entities continue to own the property
Molino says as far as the work needed to repair the pillars, the City should seek an evaluation from a historical preservation group or firm that will provide an estimate and the scope of work to be completed.
At this time Molino could not provide a cost for the evaluation or the work as several choices are still being looked into. Once a firm has been contacted and the ownership issue has been resolved the job can go out to bid.
Councilman Paul Viele was not keen on the idea of wasting anymore time and money. “I think the study is a waste of time and money, you just need a good mason to go down there and give you a quote on it in a week, don’t waste time on a study.”
While Council President Eugene Jankowski agreed that studies are usually a waste of time and money, in this case it is needed.
“Because of the private property factor, we need to look at maybe the City taking ownership of the pillars,” says Jankowski.
“Right now everyone likes the pillars, If someone buys these houses and decides to be vindictive or mean and they say I own this part and I want this removed, how do you stop then from removing them.”
A study can look into making the pillars a historical landmark(down the road as the process is lengthy), how to address the private property issue and who to do the repairs.
“When you do it, you should do it the right way, make them an investment, it may be a little costly, but this way we won’t be back at this discussion 5-10 years from now with cracking mortar or patchwork,” Molino says.
Councilman at Large Bob Bialkowski says that council should move forward with the process.
“I think this neighborhood does a wonderful job, its everything we are trying to promote in Batavia. The Redfield Parkway Association is on of the oldest associations in the City and they meet all the goals set out by Vibrant Batavia.”
“I’ve always admired that they put up flags and plant flowers in the City owned center medians and they put up Christmas trees.”
City Council will be advised of the what progress is made as far as the legal ownership issue and the evaluation through emails from City Manager Jason Molino. Council hopes to move forward by the first of the year.