Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bedford's City Council decided this week to ask for bids on a long-term lease to renovate the 112-year-old brick structure. The decision forestalls, at least temporarily, a public hearing scheduled for next week that likely would have riled people on both sides of the months-long controversy.
"It's a movement in the right direction," conceded David Cole, president of the Bedford County Historical Society. But Cole said he'll remain wary of the council's intentions, "until there's something on their part that's in writing."
Joined by the Garden Club of Bedford, the group has waged a petition-signing, letter-writing campaign to save the old house, which they believed was destined for demolition.
"They need to put down their hatchets and weapons and realize we need to work together," Bedford Mayor Michael Shelton said Wednesday. "All of it's been very unnecessary."
The city's aim is to spruce up the area adjacent to its new $2.5 million public library, including the Wharton House and wildflower garden and another 19th-century house built by the Whartons.
The garden club has maintained the garden for years. The historical society had offered to lease the house and fix it up, at its own expense, but never heard back from council. Both groups grew suspicious this summer that council was planning to raze the house.
That has always been an option - one of many, Shelton said, although council never voted on it. But neither can the city say now that it never will raze the building, he said.
"You are putting yourself in a situation of committing a significant amount of taxpayer dollars to the project," Shelton said.
This summer, the historical society tipped off the state librarian that the city might tear down the Wharton House. The state had approved $178,000 in grant money several years ago, partly on the condition that the project not adversely affect the historic house.
The state librarian, Nolan Yelich, has withheld the money since then. He was to have held next week's public hearing to determine whether the city had violated the terms of its grant application.
City Council announced the decision to advertise for bids on a lease after meeting in executive session Tuesday night. City Manager Jack Gross said Craddock Cunningham Architectural Partners in Lynchburg has been hired for about $4,000 to assess the house's structural needs.
Robert Lambeth Jr., a Bedford lawyer representing the historical society, said his client, the city and the state attorney general's office agreed Wednesday to postpone the hearing and see what happens.
If the city's lease is too strict or expensive, Lambeth said, the historical society will pursue a public hearing, which would "probably be divisive and confrontational."
by CNB