SHELBY — The fate of Shelby’s 146-year-old fire station is up for debate as the bones of a brand-new station are erected just down the street.
Shelby’s Buildings and Grounds Commission met on March 20 to discuss what should be done with the historic fire station at 10 E. Main Street. Unfortunately, the answer is not a simple one.
“I’ve put a lot of thought into this ever since they announced a new fire station,” said Jim McCormick, chairman of the commission and a former Shelby Fire captain. “I love that building and I’d love to see it preserved, but we have to ask, are the taxpayers willing to maintain it?”
First constructed in 1872, the Shelby Fire Station is one of the oldest fire stations in the United States. When the station was first constructed, Ulysses S. Grant was president. The battle of Little Bighorn would take place four years after its construction.
The city of Shelby announced on Oct. 6 that a new fire station would be constructed thanks to a generous donation by local businessman and philanthropist Grant Milliron. The new station will be constructed on High School Avenue just north of the Shelby Justice Center.
When it comes to the old station, Project Manager Joe Gies explained the historic building’s options are restrictive and cost-prohibitive, particularly due to the fact that the building sits in the 100-year floodplain.
Gies explained that because the station sits in the floodplain, the building would have to meet current floodplain regulations if it were altered by more than 50 percent of its market value. Currently the historic station’s property is appraised at $55,000.
Any alterations that cost less than 50 percent of its market value – theoretically, $27,500 – would not need to meet current floodplain regulations. Alterations costing more than that would require the building to meet regulations like being elevated or flood-proofed to a height of five feet.
“However, since the building is in the historic district, certain variances may be granted to give us a little more leeway,” Gies said.
Shelby’s Historic Preservation Commission could approve any new plans for the building, as long as alterations did not take away the station’s historical significance. The new plans would also have to be granted a variance of the Board of Zoning Appeals per floodplain regulations.
However, any variances granted may make flood insurance not affordable. And if the building is not insured, that would make the building ineligible for any FEMA assistance in the event of future flooding.
Councilman Nathan Martin pointed out the flooding mitigation plans currently being discussed in Shelby City Council could help solve downtown’s property value conundrum.
“This is causing a downward spiral in our prices on downtown properties, because the properties are getting older which lowers their value, which means people that purchase them can put in a lesser amount, which causes them to lower value again,” Martin said. “We’re basically in a death spiral on these buildings downtown – they can’t change hands. This is just a microcosm of that.”
Gies added that any of the current flooding mitigation scenarios proposed by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District would remove many downtown buildings from the floodplain, and therefore remove the requirement to purchase flood insurance.
But the floodplain isn’t the station’s only issue. The city of Shelby hired Richland Engineering to conduct an analysis of the building, where they found brick masonry coming apart, steel towers separating from the building, cracks in concrete, and vulnerabilities to water and ice damage.
“For 25 years that I was there, we nickel-and-dimed buying materials and through mostly-free labor patched and patched to keep the roof from leaking, to keep bricks from falling out of the walls,” McCormick said. “We constantly worked on that building.”
Gies also noted that Shelby City Schools technically owns some of the property that the current fire station spills onto. If the city decided to sell the building, for example, some of the property would transfer back to the schools.
McCormick admitted the station did not have much value in the structure itself besides the historical aspect. However, he advocated for putting the building up for sale.
“That would preserve the building and take the financial burden off the city,” he said.
Another option floated at Tuesday’s meeting was tearing the building down. Gies estimated that the cost of tearing the historic station down would be around $10,000 to $15,000.
“We talk a lot about Shelby having a downtown historic district and we have to decide, what value is that?” said commission member Michael McLaughlin. “This is arguably the most historic building we have in town and if we have to tear it down, you have to determine what the historic value of downtown is, period. The only logical answer to all of this is to tear it down.”
At the suggestion of Mayor Steve Schag, the commission plans to hold future town hall-style meetings to gather input from the public about the old station before making its recommendation to council. However, commission member Gus Garverick already began gathering public input from about 30 people, and the responses did not bode well for the historic building.
“I got all kinds of answers, but nobody wanted to keep the building,” Garverick said. “Most of these people said this is why we’re getting a new fire station.”
