It may be too late, but the director of Standing Rock Cultural Arts sent a letter to Kent City Council members this week expressing his opposition to the .
The Friends of the Wells-Sherman House are planning to relocate the building to the patch of greenspace between and the building on North Water Street.
The space, however, has been used by SRCA for programming and events for years.
Council voted last week to loan $15,000 to the relocation effort and will cast its final vote on the loan next week.
Ingram's letter to council, sent Tuesday, is below:
Greetings City Council,
Though I claim no ownership to the property at 247 North Water St, I’d like to contribute my two cents and convince the City of Kent that it’s resources are better off spent on preserving the Erie Street Depot (currently The Pufferbelly Restaurant) and the Marvin Kent House (currently the Masonic Lodge) than investing in The Wells Sherman House.
I am wondering if keeping it a green space would be more valuable to the City. If necessary, Standing Rock Cultural Arts can raise the money to purchase and maintain it as such.
If there is a good plan for this project, please answer the following questions:
What are the true costs of this project?
What will it cost to level the land and lay the foundation for the house?
What will it cost to tie in to the utilities and maintain them for perpetuity?
What parking is available to the tenants and visitors of this historic place?
What will it cost to renovate the structure to the point where it is recognized as a Historical Place by the State of Ohio?
Does The view this house as a priority for historic preservation?
What will it cost to maintain the property for ten years? For twenty years? For one hundred years?
What resources are committed to the project to insure success?
While the efforts of Rick Hawksley are laudable, and I’ve appreciated many of his contributions to the quality of life in Kent, including The Haymaker Farmer’s Market and The Portage Hike and Bike Trail, I feel this attempt to relocate the Wells Sherman House to the yard by The North Water Street Gallery is premature and poorly planned. It appears that moving it to this location is more of an act of desperation, rather than one of careful consideration that will result in a long lasting improvement to the neighborhood.
Let it be known that this land has been used for twenty years by Standing Rock Cultural Arts as a valuable Green Space. Through the years, we’ve built a rain garden to prevent soil erosion, erected solar panels, planted a garden which includes strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, basil, kale, beets, romaine lettuce, red oak leaf lettuce, parsley, collard greens, chives, tomatoes, jerusalem artichokes, onions, and garlic. There are cherry trees, an apple tree, and mulberry trees growing there as well. I am grateful to Jim Arthur for allowing us to use this space.
I have to question the motives of this project as well? What is this about The TransPortage organization, an organization based on the principles of sustainability, putting its office on top of one of the last green spaces in downtown Kent?
There are many groups including The New World Children’s Theatre, and The Annual Jawbone Poetry Reading, which use this space for making art, growing vegetables, holding pot lucks, reading poetry, and relaxing in a space that is close to downtown and an oasis of natural beauty.
After speaking with the Director of The Kent Historical Society, I am convinced that The Wells Sherman House is not a priority in terms of historic preservation in Kent. It will need a huge investment to renovate and maintain its integrity in perpetuity. What endowment is set up to insure that this house will be restored and maintained for the longterm? The director also mentioned that more energy should be put into preserving the Marvin Kent House and The Erie Street Depot.
To satisfy the property owners, if they are in need to sell this space, Standing Rock Cultural Arts would like to purchase the property and maintain it as green space and sculpture garden. We welcome the opportunity to raise funds for this purpose and feel we can accomplish this within a year. I will also personally assist in the search for another location for The Wells Sherman House.
I am saddened by many of the comments in favor of this project which never once acknowledge that there will be a great loss when this structure moves on to the green space. As for preservation, preserving green space in downtown Kent is what I consider valuable. There was a time when undeveloped land was considered useless. Now that there is so little green space left in our Downtown, it has become precious.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Jeff Ingram/Executive Director
Standing Rock Cultural Arts
257 N. Water St., Kent, Ohio
In all honesty, if Standing Rock requires a yard for their programming to be complete, I would highly suggest *not* being downtown. There are many spaces in Kent that would suit their needs just as well (if not better) and not face the possibility of being developed (especially if Standing Rock actually owned its own property or at least rented a property that included its own yard). There are also things like rooftop gardens that could be utilized. Downtowns are designed to be high-density areas. The area where this empty lot sits isn't zoned for parkland, it's zoned for high-density commercial and residential development. It has sat as "green" space simply because up until now, no one wanted to develop it after demolishing what was previously there (like a lot of other lots downtown).
The building that houses the gallery is rented but owned by the landlord who has the investment (and equity) in it. SRCA has discussed repair and renovation efforts with the landlord throughout the years and has also attempted to create and establish a more spacious community center, even at one time trying to raise interest in and support of moving into an existing building (College Street Library) that was later torn down but we were unable to receive enough support to make it happen at the time. The board has met and discussed repairs but is in agreement that the funds we do have (in a non-profit organization, our expenses must nearly meet our income as expected by a non-profit role in the community unless earmarked in special accounts that cannot be accessed) are most appropriate to fund the arts and cultural activities in our community, rather than use precious funds to add to the value of a building in our landlord's ownership. The expenses of maintaining a building are far more than for a green space and if we owned the green space, we would have ownership of this despite anything that might happen with our rented gallery location.
A house would also provide more space for the kinds of activities in which they might wish to engage the community. Just a suggestion, but one that might help SRCA to continue their mission unabated by having a much nicer space in which to continue their valuable work.
The gallery has NEVER run an event with no heat in the winter. Those who know the gallery know the heating sources which are located on the wall and around the room. There are no forced air blowers that make noise and we don't run up bills by keeping the heat on higher temperatures but the heat is always on for a winter event, even including this mild unseasonably warm winter that we had this past year (another fact that was either not considered or omitted from that statement). Misinformation can be hurtful to an organization and if for any reason, it is stated in the press out of a sense of malice or spite, it serves in the form of libelous and defamatory statements, which can lead to lawsuits in some cases so it might be good as a commenter to know the facts before spreading false information. There are a lot of litigious people in the world who would jump on a lawsuit in a heartbeat for that.
Saving the old depot was clearly a good move!
Given the devastation of North Water Street in the 1970s and how it does not seem to have ever fully recovered, I would hope that the relocation and restoration of the house will jump start a restoration of North Water Street to its old vitality again.
Part of this town's greatest charm is it's grass roots art and music culture. Don't squelch it.