West Pikeland community theater’s home is again in jeopardy after board doubles down on vote to sell their building
In its third meeting in recent weeks, West Pikeland's board again voted to put the township building, which houses SALT Performing Arts, up for sale.
West Pikeland Township will move ahead with purchasing a new facility for its police department and put its existing municipal building up for bid this month, without protections in place for the community theater based there, even after an attempt to reconsider that decision.
A motion before West Pikeland’s board of supervisors — which would have rescinded a vote from earlier this year to purchase 1001 Kimberton Rd. for its municipal offices and police department and simultaneously stopped the township from putting its existing building up for sale — failed, 3-2, Monday night after hours of public comment. Supervisors Steven Costa and Harold M. Hallman III voted in favor of the motion.
The township is expected to close on the new building on Nov. 13, and has already paid nearly $400,000 in a nonrefundable down payment and due diligence, officials said at Monday’s meeting.
The board also, for a second time, voted to put the municipal building at 1645 Art School Rd., which houses SALT Performing Arts, up for bid after back-and-forth last month temporarily rescinded the move. The vote passed 3-2, with supervisors Costa and Hallman casting the dissenting votes.
» READ MORE: A community theater spent $400,000 on renovations. Now, the town may sell the building and leave them without a home.
The meeting, which went into the early hours of Tuesday, drew a sizable crowd of people who opposed the sale and criticized the board’s decision to move forward with the new property. It’s the third meeting in recent weeks to deliberate the sale of the township building.
SALT, in recent years, made roughly $400,000 in capital improvements to the building in exchange for a 10-year, fixed-rent licensing agreement. Its supporters came out in force, pleading with officials to protect the theater that has called the space home for more than a decade.
“If you go through with this, we’re getting that money back,” SALT’s president Lauren McComas told the board Monday.
The bid will be advertised Wednesday. It doesn’t preclude a new owner from taking on SALT’s existing licensing agreement, but it doesn’t offer protections for it, after officials said such a provision would devalue what the township could get.
“This is a sad day for West Pikeland Township,” supervisor Hallman said.
In hours of public comment, residents pressed the township supervisors to pause or reconsider the investment and preserve the home of the theater.
“Going against a licensing agreement to SALT, I think, is despicable,” said resident Jonathan Martin.
The purchase and sale are happening concurrently, as the township’s police department is based in a second building on the 1645 Art School Rd. property. The sale of that site would help offset the purchase of the Kimberton Road building, which the township envisions becoming an upgraded police department and a way to raise funds by leasing space to other tenants.
Several years ago, residents overwhelmingly agreed to increase their taxes to retain the police department. To maintain the police, officials want to grow the force and seek accreditation — a prospect hamstrung by the current facility, they have said.
In a brief presentation to the public, supervisor Bryan Maher said the current facility was “woefully insufficient” and “a joke,” noting that its jail cell is a bench bolted to the floor, with handcuffs attached. He argued that, in addition to a better place for the police department, the new property could be a destination for the township, with potential for farmers markets and events, and with the ability to publicize meetings to the traffic driving by on the main thoroughfare.
The move did garner the support of two public speakers.
“I personally would rather administrators and police in a well-lit and accessible area rather than some of the other businesses who had expressed interest for that parcel,” resident Regan Sarmento said.
But many others said the purchase was flawed, and some collected hundreds of signatures on a petition opposing it.
“This purchase is just so financially fraught,” said resident Meredith Murphy, adding that the board’s pending budget was based on speculation about what revenue the new building could generate.
Costa raised concerns about the possible debt they could take on in the deal, along with the vision for the future.
“We’re going to have the police department, the admin, and maybe the post office or whatever. That’s not a destination,” he said. “What we have now in Historic Yellow Springs is a destination.”
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