FAYETTE — Minor improvements and a survey have been completed in the last two years and a series of meetings will help determine the future of Starling Hall.

In Nov. 2022, voters rejected efforts to match a $500,000 federal grant by bonding the same amount in order to renovate the nearly 150-year-old building. That vote saw 341 residents supporting a referendum question concerning the funding, while 427 were opposed.

Voters at the Nov. 2023 election were asked to complete a survey about the building. The results were later shared with the Livermore Falls Advertiser. Of nearly 550 voters at the polls, 268 took the time to respond to at least some of the survey questions. On selling the building, 201 were against selling with 64 in favor. Some 204 respondents felt investing in the building should continue while 64 disagreed. Also supported [with the numbers not shared] was holding selectmen, committee and town meetings in Starling Hall; using it as an emergency shelter/warming center or as a place to hold plays/entertainment and renting it to the public.

The Livermore Falls Advertiser spoke with Joe Young, president of Friends of Starling Hall [FOSH] on Monday, Jan. 8, to learn more about the present status of the hall.

Between 2022 and 2023 some minor improvements had been made, he said. A handicap ramp was built for the back door, a flash form constructed for the ramp to hook onto and a roof installed over the basement entrance, Young noted.

“FOSH continues to raise funds, primarily to pay off the bond that was raised about four years ago,” he stated. “That requires us to raise almost $11,000 every year to pay that off. That is the primary focus of what we are doing right now as far as fundraising is concerned.”

FOSH received a small grant to pay for a facilitator to help work through a series of meetings that will culminate in recommendations for another town meeting, Young said. “I am not sure when we will conclude that,” he noted. “We are just starting that process now.”

The first meeting was scheduled for Jan.9 and focused on the building and what is required to bring it back into compliance with today’s building codes, he noted. “The next meeting we will focus on the building lot and what the restrictions are, how that inhibits any further development of the hall itself and the property,” Young said. “We will be looking for information from the DEP, the code enforcement officer, maybe some other people that may have insights that are important to that topic.”

The third informational meeting will be focused on potential grants that could be applied for, he noted. “Once those three meetings are held, which are specifically designed to gather information and allow people to ask questions, we will move on to having a discussion amongst the town’s leadership – the budget committee, selectmen and other people that have been involved in the past – to determine what kind of path forward there is for that building and see where it goes,” Young said.

“It will give guidance in terms of what the town wants to do with the building.”

FOSH does not own Starling Hall, Young stressed. “FOSH formed specifically to raise funding and search out grants to fix the building up so it meets present day codes,” he noted. “It’s a journey.”

OUTCOME OF FIRST MEETING

“The architect and engineer were at the meeting Tuesday to basically discuss what they knew about the building needs and updating it to meet code issues,” Young said Thursday night, Jan. 11. “Of course, it is complicated. It is a historic building and there have to be decisions made from the town’s standpoint in terms of what they want to do with the building.

“That will determine what parts of the code apply to the building. It is one of those things that isn’t easy to relate in a sound byte or in a short paragraph.”

Young thought from his perspective the message is “what the town needs to do is determine how they want to proceed with renovating, how they want to proceed with the use of the building and then contract with an architect and engineering firm to come up with a set of plans, recommendations for what is needed to achieve that goal.”

The meeting made it clear to those attending that Starling Hall is a beautiful, historic building that can be renovated, Young said. “What is needed is for the town to come up with some goals for how they want to use the building,” he noted. “It appeared to me that if we maintain the same type of use that it was used for historically – that is, a place for assembly – that would be the path of least resistance if you will.”

Code issues would be more flexible when maintaining the same use it always had, Young thought. “It’s when you start changing – change it into an office building or some sort of commercial thing – that the official part of the code would obviously change which sections of the code would apply and how to meet those,” he said.

A representative from the State Fire Marshall’s Office was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting, Young indicated. “We are in the process of trying to set up another time for him to speak at a selectmen meeting to go over what the permitting process is and how that works,” he noted.

Dates for that meeting and the other two haven’t been finalized yet, Young said. Once set, information should be posted on the Starling Hall and/or Fayette website, he added.

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