Bainbridge Discusses Remaining Centerville Mills Buildings

February 20, 2014 by

The fate of the remaining buildings at Centerville Mills Park was the main topic of discussion Monday as Bainbridge Township Trustees debated whether it makes economic sense to maintain them as rental properties.
The township purchased the old YMCA camp about 10 years ago and formed an advisory committee to recommend what to do with the facilities, including cabins, a lodge, swimming pool, horses and boats.
The committee recommended selling off or demolishing the camp’s facilities and turning the 160 acres into a passive park, but trustees at that time decided to rent out several of the buildings to provide income.
Since then, succeeding boards have determined that most of the facilities needed too much work to make it worthwhile to keep them for rental income. Trustees removed the pool, sold off the horses and boats, and demolished the buildings needing the most repairs.
Groups such as the Seabees and two Boy Scout troops proposed taking charge of a few of the buildings and repairing them in return for being able to use them, and completed several maintenance projects, but the current board decided to discontinue the program.
In 2011, trustees conducted detailed studies of the remaining buildings and last year, hired structural engineers to determine the costs of repairing and maintaining them.
Trustees ordered the demolition of several more buildings, including most of the remaining cabins, a pavilion, the nature center, the dispensary, the headquarters building and two bridges.
Monday night, trustees held a special work session to determine whether the township’s general fund could support the costs of renovating the remaining buildings, bringing them up to code and making them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and whether the income from the rentals would offset those costs.
“This meeting is a continuation of a number of discussions we held in November and December relating to our general fund and has morphed into a re-examination of our progress at Centerville Mills and how the projects impact our general fund budget,” Trustee Lorrie Sass Benza said. “There were significant actions taken by our service department last year and we need to decide about any additional demolitions.”
Centerville Mills is now a passive park with a few buildings remaining based on their rentals, Park Board Chairman Marty Sfiligoj told trustees.
“The path you have taken so far is a good path and we’ve agreed with your decisions that have kept to the original recommendations,” he said.
Sfiligoj said his board has received some protests from residents who had fond memories of the camp or were involved in the groups trying to fix and use some of the buildings, but overall, the majority of residents approved of the demolitions.
“It’s painful to see some of these things come down and I wish we could keep some of these elements, but I understand the need (to work within the budget),” Sfiligoj told trustees. “You’ve pretty much trimmed it down.”
He recommended trustees dedicate one remaining cabin to all the scout troops in the township and establish an aggressive program to market the remaining rental facilities.
He also said trustees should consider “mothballing” the buildings that are not ADA compliant and studying the data on the income the township receives from the rentals.
Trustee Jeff Markley said of the four main township parks, Centerville Mills generates the most rental income, with about 10 times what the other parks bring in.
He said the parks brought in about $82,000 in 2012 and cost the township about $300,000 to maintain.
Centerville Mills generated $51,000 in rental income, while Settler’s Park brought in $6,000, River Road, $10,000, and the township hall brought in $3,000.
Figures are not yet available for 2013, which would include the new Heritage Park, trustees said.
Service Director Jim Stanek told trustees the decisions on which buildings to keep at Centerville Mills is becoming more difficult.
“We’re getting to the hard part of this,” Stanek said. “Maybe we can focus on one building at a time. The day care and the white house are being used. The big question is the dining hall. In all the other parks, you chose what to build. You inherited Centerville Mills and you somehow have to make that shoe fit.”
He said that bringing the remaining buildings into ADA compliance may be too expensive in the long run.
“That’s the million dollar question,” Stanek said.
Resident Ted Seliga recommended asking for guidance from the Geauga Park District.
Markley said that former park district Director Tom Curtin might be a great source of information and said he would contact Curtin.
He said if the dining hall at Centerville Mills brings in about $10,000 in rentals, but will cost about $100,000 in repairs, trustees will need to determine whether an 11-year return on the township’s investment will warrant keeping the building.
Trustees made no formal decision on the parks, but they decided to increase the capital improvement budget for the parks and properties from $15,000 for the year to $100,000, after Stanek said there were several projects that need completing this year.
Stanek listed a drainage project, painting and security updates to Settlers’ Park, painting at River Road Park and other needed repairs.
Markley added the township hall still needs some improvements, including new windows, doors, locks and gutters.
Trustee Chris Horn moved to approve a $100,000 blanket certificate for parks and properties capital improvements. The motion passed unanimously.