The Vienna town government will move forward soon to remove the cross atop the former Faith Baptist Church building that temporarily is housing the Vienna Police Department, but will not dismantle the structure’s steeple.
Town employees do not have equipment sufficiently tall to remove the cross, so the town has contracted with BRAX Roofing to get the cross down using an 80-foot crane.
The initiative, which will cost a little more than $3,000, should be done within the coming week, said Leon Evans, facility and operations manager with the Vienna Parks and Recreation Department.
Town officials over the summer received complaints from the public that the steeple on what now is serving as a town annex building violated the separation of church and state. (Some Council members have stated that Town Hall also has a steeple, but it appears to be a three-level cupola topped by a weather vane.)
The Vienna Town Council took up the matter at its Aug. 29 meeting.
After a lengthy discussion with multiple motions that members eventually withdrew, the Council agreed to remove the building’s cross and voted 7-0 to postpone indefinitely discussions about further roof repairs at the annex.
The Vienna Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for the annex’s interior and exterior upkeep while town leaders determine how the building will be used in the short and long terms.
Department employees have been contending with roof leaks at the facility, Parks and Recreation Director Leslie Herman told the Council Aug. 29.
“Addressing the flat roof is the most pressing current issue to ensure that the annex does not incur further damage and deterioration due to the leaks,” Herman said.
Herman gave the Council three options (with costs attached):
• Replace the whole flat-roof system, alter or remove windows, and remove and reinstall rooftop heating-and-cooling units ($212,000 to $318,400).
• Remove the steeple and repair the shingle section under it ($7,200 to $15,000).
• Replace the entire roofing system (both flat and sloping sections) and remove the steeple ($293,200 to $443,400).
Herman recommended that last option. The Parks and Recreation Department eventually hopes to bring the building up to code, obtain a new occupancy permit, and offer programs and public-meeting space at the facility, she said.
The town has $300,000 available from its 2022 bond issue for annex-related costs, plus another $50,000 to $60,000, said Finance Director Marion Serfass.
But the Council could not agree on a path forward.
“I’m loath to spend half a million dollars to repair a roof for a temporary use which may not ever occur,” said Council member Charles Anderson, adding that some proposed uses of the site would require the facility’s demolition. “If we spend the money, we’re kind of committing ourselves to this building.”
Anderson likened the situation to the Vienna Community Center’s expansion and renovation several years ago, which veered over budget and behind schedule after workers discovered structural problems in the existing 50-year-old building.
“Hindsight suggested it may have been cheaper to tear the whole thing down than it would be to try to repurpose an old building that is not to code – and probably has not been well-maintained – to a new use,” Anderson said.
“I would like to do the absolute minimum, even if that does cause some further damage to the building, rather than commit a lot of money.” Council member Steve Potter also had qualms.
“We still have a lot of unknowns here that have to be addressed, because this really and truly is about return on investment,” Potter said. “If we’re going to put a million dollars in, are we going to get more than a million dollars back?”
Council member Howard Springsteen countered that constructing a new building on the site likely would take 10 years. (He based that estimate on 12 years for the new police station and eight for the recently renovated community center.)
“My sense is we need to keep that [annex] building in pretty good shape and if we decide we don’t want it and we want to place another building [there], we’re looking eight or 10 years down the road,” he said. “There’s no way we have the funding right now.”
Mayor Linda Colbert favored protecting the building’s sanctuary and gymnasium, both of which are covered partially with sloping roofs. She suggested just repairing the steeple and deciding the annex’s disposition later.
“I don’t want to feel like we’re going backwards, but this is a big decision and I don’t feel like the Council is on the same page on this,” she said.
Making the building code-compliant, which requires much more than just repairing the roof, probably will cost $1 million, said Town Manager Mercury Payton.
The town is doing a needs assessment for the site and soon will have more information for the Council, Payton said.
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