Restoration may be 'logical conclusion' for EC Annex
Eagle Creek Annex committee to meet April 6 at 7 p.m. at EHS
Eagle Creek Annex Committee members will continue the discussion about future plans for the aging school building next to the current Eagle Creek Elementary School on Highway 211 beginning at 7 p.m. on april 6 in the Estacada High School choir room.
Evan Jensen / Estacada News
Four months ago, the Estacada School Board formed a committee to look at options for the aging Eagle Creek Annex Building. The building adjacent to Eagle Creek Elementary has been closed for classroom use for more than three decades, and district officials are concerned about the deteriorating condition of the building.
Moss covers portions of the roof and old staircase, and plywood boards cover the original doorway and windows. Except for when people are accessing a few items in storage kept in the building, the place is typically locked. The Annex committee has explored a variety of options for the building in the last few months and hopes to submit a recommendation to the school board in the near future.
“This group has met quite a number of times,” Estacada School Board Member and Annex Committee Chair Mary Ann Bugni said. “At this point, I think we need to put some numbers to the options we’ve been looking at and proceed with what we have tasked ourselves to do. There may be a monkey wrench in the process depending on what recommendation this group makes, but we need to finish up our work on this as a group.”
The monkey wrench Bugni is referring to is the building’s historic status. Just because the building has an estimated $18,000 asbestos problem, an aging roof and access issues for persons with disabilities doesn’t mean that demolition or a learn-to-burn fire exercise is the easiest or most cost-effective option for the building. The Annex committee has also considered leaving the building alone, relocating it or remodeling it for district use or that of possible tenants.
But without a clear understanding of what the building could potentially be used for, District grant writer Kevin Olds said, it will be difficult to seek grant funding without a plan in place. And the building’s historic status may be the monkey wrench that weighs heavily on the committee’s recommendation.
“If anything major is done to this building, it’s going to have to go through the county,” said Eagle Creek Annex Committee member Warren Damon. “We would have a lot of paperwork and meetings, and get permission from a review board to go through with any changes to the building. And even if we recommended demolition, it doesn’t mean the county will allow it. This is a historic building, and the county doesn’t really want people to go out and demo old buildings.”
Annex committee members began outlining a cost-benefit analysis for the options being considered for the Eagle Creek Annex to identify the financial impact the district may incur, to make their recommendation. Asbestos abatement will cost the district approximately $18,000, and estimates for demolition have been submitted for around $40,000. If the district chooses demolition and gains county approval, additional expenses would be incurred for fill dirt, gravel for a parking lot and basic maintenance. But if the district chooses to remodel the building, rough estimates for remodeling could top $500,000 for construction, in addition to long-term maintenance and operating costs.
Based on a potential recommendation to restore the building, Annex committee members said the building could become a source of revenue for the district with the right tenants and grant funding.
“One of the options we’re looking at is sort of cobbling together potential uses for the building that could make this an income-producing space for the district,” Bugni said. “A lot of that would depend on grant writing, in addition to the outcome of what the county says in terms of what can be done with the building. It’s looking more and more likely that this could be the most logical conclusion for this building.”
One other option the committee has not considered in detail is donating the building to a special interest group.
“You can still donate it to a special interest group,” Estacada resident Dora Morgan said. “Find five acres to put it on, have Job Corps tear it down and let the special interest group restore it. Someone might want to keep it. It might go outside of Estacada, somewhere in the state or maybe even to Washington, but someone might have an interest in it.”