Mentone Eyes Uses For Saemann Building
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
MENTONE - Day care. A senior citizen center. Alternative education.
Those are just a few of the ideas thrown out Thursday night at a meeting in Mentone concerning a feasibility study on the use of the Saemann Building.
Bell Memorial Library is looking at the building as its new facility, but the building is too large to house just the library.
The structure is 22,000 square feet, with preliminary plans to demolish the old portion of the building. That would leave 15,000 square feet of space. The library is about 1,000 square feet and a needs assessment conducted nine years ago shows that the library requires about 2,700 square feet. An updated needs assessment will likely not exceed 3,000 square feet, according to Tim Kelty of R.P. Murphy & Associates, Larwill, who is working with the library on obtaining a grant.
This would leave about 12,000 square feet of unused space that could be made available to the town.
"We are looking tonight at what services people would like to see in town," Kelty said. "We want to get as many ideas as possible tonight no matter how outlandish they may sound."
"The need is tremendous here for a lot of things," said Rita Simpson, business owner and member of the Mentone Chamber of Commerce. "Many businesses that have come to Mentone can go anywhere, but can do it here for half the cost of Warsaw." She added: "It's an amazing building when you get inside ... it has a lot of good space."
At least one resident expressed concern that the library might need more space in the future and filling the building with other services could hamper additional growth needs.
Madeline Fisher, librarian, said the library would retain control of the building so that if in 20 years, for example, the library needed more space to expand it could do so.
Other possibilities considered for shared use in the building include development of a mini-mall, moving town offices, renovating a portion of the building for a banquet-size meeting room, having adult education/literacy programs and/or after-school care and offering for-profit office space for rent to businesses.
"There is funding available for a lot of programs to be considered," Fisher said.
"It's our job to analyze the options to see if it's going to be self-supporting," said Bob Murphy of Murphy & Associates. "Then we'll turn it over to the architect and let him see what will fit."
In preparing for grant application, an income survey will be completed. The town is hoping to secure a $500,000 grant to renovate the structure. Although the library will be the primary user of the building, the town will be the grant applicant and will be the owner of the building for at least five years. The library would be the subreciprocant of the grant and would serve as a "rental agent" to others in the building.
A dozen residents attended Thursday's meeting and were asked to fill out questionnaires regarding their ideas for uses in the building. Another meeting is planned for 7 p.m. next Thursday in the town hall. Anyone unable to attend the meetings but who wants to voice an opinion can obtain a questionnaire from Fisher. [[In-content Ad]]
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MENTONE - Day care. A senior citizen center. Alternative education.
Those are just a few of the ideas thrown out Thursday night at a meeting in Mentone concerning a feasibility study on the use of the Saemann Building.
Bell Memorial Library is looking at the building as its new facility, but the building is too large to house just the library.
The structure is 22,000 square feet, with preliminary plans to demolish the old portion of the building. That would leave 15,000 square feet of space. The library is about 1,000 square feet and a needs assessment conducted nine years ago shows that the library requires about 2,700 square feet. An updated needs assessment will likely not exceed 3,000 square feet, according to Tim Kelty of R.P. Murphy & Associates, Larwill, who is working with the library on obtaining a grant.
This would leave about 12,000 square feet of unused space that could be made available to the town.
"We are looking tonight at what services people would like to see in town," Kelty said. "We want to get as many ideas as possible tonight no matter how outlandish they may sound."
"The need is tremendous here for a lot of things," said Rita Simpson, business owner and member of the Mentone Chamber of Commerce. "Many businesses that have come to Mentone can go anywhere, but can do it here for half the cost of Warsaw." She added: "It's an amazing building when you get inside ... it has a lot of good space."
At least one resident expressed concern that the library might need more space in the future and filling the building with other services could hamper additional growth needs.
Madeline Fisher, librarian, said the library would retain control of the building so that if in 20 years, for example, the library needed more space to expand it could do so.
Other possibilities considered for shared use in the building include development of a mini-mall, moving town offices, renovating a portion of the building for a banquet-size meeting room, having adult education/literacy programs and/or after-school care and offering for-profit office space for rent to businesses.
"There is funding available for a lot of programs to be considered," Fisher said.
"It's our job to analyze the options to see if it's going to be self-supporting," said Bob Murphy of Murphy & Associates. "Then we'll turn it over to the architect and let him see what will fit."
In preparing for grant application, an income survey will be completed. The town is hoping to secure a $500,000 grant to renovate the structure. Although the library will be the primary user of the building, the town will be the grant applicant and will be the owner of the building for at least five years. The library would be the subreciprocant of the grant and would serve as a "rental agent" to others in the building.
A dozen residents attended Thursday's meeting and were asked to fill out questionnaires regarding their ideas for uses in the building. Another meeting is planned for 7 p.m. next Thursday in the town hall. Anyone unable to attend the meetings but who wants to voice an opinion can obtain a questionnaire from Fisher. [[In-content Ad]]