Mission Rents

The Brunswick Historical Society’s Heritage Farm house, at 4613 Laurel Road, before being closed to the public due to safety concerns. City officials have determined it will cost at least $100,000 to make needed repairs and the parks and recreation committee has called for terminating the city’s lease agreement with the historical society.BRUNSWICK While the issue will be presented to the whole of city council at its Feb. 27 committee of the whole meeting, the parks and recreation committee voted Feb. 16 to terminate the Heritage Farm house lease agreement between the city and the Brunswick Area Historical Society.

Parks and Recreation Director John Piepsny said that council approval is not required to terminate the lease.

“It just requires a letter from the city manager, approved by the law director,” Piepsny said. “The termination gives the historical society 30 days to vacate and, of course, the Recreation Department will work with them.”

Following the committee meeting, Historical Society Vice President Amber Dalakas invited the public to weigh in on the issue.

“The Society is looking to our community for support,” Dalakas said in a Feb. 17 press release. “This is our last chance to save the treasures that have been donated for preservation for future generations. We are looking for your input and help. If you want to save Heritage Farm and all the work that has gone into preserving our local artifacts, you need to let us know. Let us know your thoughts at .”

Dalakas’s letter goes on to note that, regardless of the lease agreement, any repair work to the farm “will now be the responsibility of the historical society.”

“Since the Spring of 2011, Heritage Farm Museum, the home of the Brunswick Area Historical Society has been closed to the public and closed to their membership by the City of Brunswick, owners of the property, due to concerns over safety of the structure,” Dalakas wrote. “The Brunswick Area Historical Society understands that the condition of the City’s finances and their other pressing concerns. The group understands that the City is clearly no longer in a position to provide any repairs at Heritage Farm. If Heritage Farm Museum is to be reopened to the public and maintained for future generations, several repairs will need to be made which include a roof leak, installation of foundation drainsand new downspout drainage, foundation stabilization and painting of the buildings.”

No plans for razing

At the committee meeting, Piepsny explained that the house and two of the outbuildings have been closed to the public, but the city-owned land and other buildings on the site would still be available for historical society use.

“The historical society has moved most of its items out of the house and has been operating out of an office in the Rec Center,” he said. “One of the unforeseen advantages of that has been that the Rec Center gets 3,000 people of day through the door and there has been a lot more exposure for the society. The past president told me that in 2010, there were about 15 to 20 visitors to the farm that year, outside special events.”

Piepsny stressed that while repair costs have become insurmountable for the city, razing the building – which would also be a financial burden to the city – is not being considered.

“The lease allows the historical society to operate out of the home, but one of the things the lease says is that the city has to ‘maintain the house’,” Peipsny said, adding that both repair costs and liability if someone were injured at the house top the city’s concerns.

A 2011 study found that repairing the house to safe standards would cost approximately $100,000. To make the upgrades to historical standards would cost, in Piepsny’s words, “a lot more.”

“We’re talking at least a quarter of a million dollars,” he said.

The actual age of the building has also been questioned, which plays into potential funding streams. Federal Community Development Block Grant dollars cannot be sought, for example, due to the fact that it is only 97 years old and not a “century home,” according to the Medina County Auditor’s office.

Parks and recreation committee member Vince Carl, however, questioned that determination, noting that the date reflects the first time owners of the 1840s style farmhouse sought a building permit to make an addition.

Although parks and recreation committee members agreed to place the issue on the next committee of the whole agenda, Mike Abella, Jr. and Patricia Hanek concurred with Piepsny that terminating the lease with the historical society seemed appropriate at this time.

“I’m for terminating the lease, with all these problems,” Abella said.

Hanek said she has felt for some time that terminating the lease should be considered.

“The historical society does pay for the utilities and the security system,” she said. “And it isn’t fair for them to do that when they can’t even get inside the building.”

Contact Lisik at (216) 986-2356.

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