Turley Publications photo by Jonathan Cook

Warren Town Hall is the temporary home to the police department, but the upstairs auditorium, complete with balcony, sits idle.

Town Hall needs a plan for re-use

Study reveals residents want function hall upstairs

By Jonathan Cook

Turley Publications Reporter

WARREN – The town hall is in limbo. The upstairs is vacant and the police department, which is downstairs, wants to move out. If that happens, the building will stand empty.

That’s not what people want, according to the town hall re-use study in which 246 residents responded to a survey, saying in nearly one voice: Keep the building in town hands and bring it back to life.

According to Peg Barringer of Fine Point Associates, and author of the study, “Seventy-two percent (of those surveyed) felt it was very important to preserve the town hall. And, 68 percent thought it was very important for the town to continue to own building.”

When it comes to the question of what to do with it, there is also agreement – make the upstairs auditorium into a community function room for town elections, town meetings, arts and cultural events including dances, recitals and cinema, Barringer said.

It’s the first floor that fairly perplexes. Selectman David Delanski said the police can’t stay there permanently without jail cells because the building is not earthquake- proof.

Barringer advised selectmen last Tuesday night that they should move forward with a plan for relocating the police before definitive planning can be done for the first floor.

Page one of the study states, “If the police department vacates the premises, the building will become completely vacant, creating an impression of disinvestment.”

Barringer said the solution to that would be for the building to be re-used and redesigned in stages.

“Our final recommendation is that there should be a phased approach,” said Barringer, “Starting with creating a usable community space function hall on the second floor and later, when a decision is made with the police department, dealing with the first floor.”

One suggestion for use of the first floor would be to relocate the Warren Public Library there. “Many people like the idea of the library moving in,” she said.

On hand was Chris Dunphy of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission to confirm that a plan to create a community space on the second floor could possibly avail itself of Community Development Block Grant funds to install an elevator. He added that an open planning process would aid in earning the grant.

Barringer suggested, “A town hall committee should be created.”

She added, “This committee could begin developing a list of users and uses, including revisiting the North Brookfield Community Theater.” That outfit had been considering using the vacant auditorium in the past, but couldn’t move past the lack of an elevator, she said.

The re-use study committee “evaluated options against how well they contributed to the revitalization of Warren Center,” said Barringer. Leading the choices was putting the library on the first floor and a function hall above. Another favored use would be to host professional offices on the first floor with the function hall above.

Barringer went so far as to warn the town not to move its library out of downtown. “Other communities have moved their post offices, their libraries out of the town center and it’s had an impact on the downtown,” she said. “It removes foot traffic and you also lose a sense of identity and a sense of town center when your public institutions move.” The report used the word “disinvestment” to describe an empty town hall.

Other uses for the property were investigated, but, Barringer said, “The demand for retail is pretty modest. A retail store would need to be able to be driven to from 15 minutes away to be successful.”

The report states that variety, electronics and appliance stores are businesses with the best chance of success.

Also, restaurants are an unlikely fit, according to the report. Those residing within 10 minutes of the town hall spend less money on restaurants than average, Barringer said. “It doesn’t bode tremendously well to attract a restaurant.”

Nevertheless, among the participants, there was not a strong consensus on what the best re-use option was for the first floor. Barringer said.

The report is available on the front page of the town website- www.warren-ma.gov.

Chairman Bob Downing thanked Barringer for her presentation. “The ball is in our court right now,” he said. “We’re dealing with this, the police department, the fire department and a few other things that all have to be considered at the same time.”