Pottery club member Dan Chisholm spoke to town councilorsl at their April 7 meeting about the need for the 59-year-old non-profit to renovate the basement space they occupy in the Old Brick School to accommodate the 43 paid members and to make room for more as the club continues to grow.
“We are extremely excited over the possibility of the start of the redevelopment of the Old Brick Schoolhouse; the renovations are needed to allow us to expand in order to serve the community better,” Chisholm explained to council vai Zoom.
“There's really evidence that the community interest is really growing in the art of pottery, and we just don't have the space to provide that and we believe that with these new renovations to the building we can actually triple the membership.”
It’s not just added space that the club is seeking as there are some safety concerns when the kiln is in operation.
“The kiln operations that we have in the building, they are performed off hours to ensure safety,” Chisholm said. “Right now, the ventilation system that's in the old schoolhouse is not sufficient to really allow us to occupy the building the same time, because there is some off-gassing of the different clays and so forth, which are not healthy.”
Starting off in whatever space they could find in 1961 the club moved into a room in the Old Brick School in 1979 that was used by the Lion’s Club. In 1984 they moved into the basement for more space and have been the sole occupant for several years dealing with asbestos concerns, a boiler that needs constant maintenance, as well as the lack of proper ventilation.
“We're running out of space and sooner or later we're going to run out of everything and if we pull out of that building then all of a sudden the building has nobody,” Chisholm explained after the meeting. “If we hadn’t been in that building for as many years as we have been, that building would have already been full of holes and half ready to be knocked down because it would have been empty and derelict.”
The only thing slowing down the redevelopment of the beloved and iconic building is getting a historical designation, something Town of Athabasca mayor Colleen Powell has been desiring for a long time.
“We have to have a council motion on (April 21) to send a letter to re-open the file that was opened by Alberta Historic Resources 10 or 12 years ago and the town and the county at that time declined to designate the building,” Powell said after the meeting.
She added that due to the pandemic, the historical designation may not be approved for several months.
“So, given what’s going on in the world right now, I’m not expecting designation until probably early next year,” she said.
Once the designation comes however, grants can be applied for to offset costs which will run into the millions for Phase 1 as Powell doesn’t want the project to be piecemeal.
“So, you can’t go in and do the electricity and heating for one area,” she said. “It has to be the entire building otherwise it makes no sense.”
Chisholm however said he would like to see a new boiler installed even if it’s temporary, as the one that is currently there needs constant maintenance and heats not only the school but the Athabasca Regional Library.
“I think the original phasing project is going to be worth maybe a couple million or a bit better. (The town) wanted to come out of the gate with all new mechanical systems up in the attic,” he said. “We don’t need that as a club right now, all we need is a boiler – a temporary one at that – because the boiler that’s in the basement of that school services the library. When the heat goes down in the old school that goes down in the library too.”
Heather Stocking, TownandCountryToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @HLSox
