Town Gets First Look At CG36500 Boathouse Plans

ORLEANS – New renderings presented last week show for the first time what a new boathouse for the famed CG36500 lifesaving vessel might look like.

Preliminary plans presented to the select board Dec. 13 show a new addition to the existing Hurd Chapel at 139 Main St. that would house the aging boat, celebrated for its role in the rescue of 32 crew members aboard the tanker Pendleton in Febuary 1952.

The Centers for Culture and History in Orleans (CHO) has a 99-year lease with the town on 1,809 square feet of the property that includes the chapel. But an additional 2,625 square feet of land is needed to accommodate the new boathouse and an outdoor programming area. Jay Stradal, president of CHO’s board of directors, said that would require the select board to support a change to the existing lease.

The lifeboat is 77 years old, too old, Stradal said, to continue to be housed outdoors year round. In addition to better protecting the vessel, Stradal said the new boathouse would give visitors a place to visit and learn about the CG36500 throughout the year, not just during the summer months.

While select board members expressed support for the proposal, there were lingering questions about whether the project is eligible for Community Preservation Act funding, as well as how plans for the addition might conflict with possibly siting a new Snow Library on the site.

In September, CHO contracted Chatham-based SV Design to prepare a design for the new building. Plans call for the new boathouse to be built into a slope on the Main Street property. The building would be one story from the CHO parking lot and two stories from the ground level at School Road.

The town put forth specific requests regarding the boathouse’s design, one being that the new building keep a small footprint.

“The conclusion was to really make this an addition to Hurd rather than a freestanding building so we can push the building together,” said Thad Siemasko of SV Design.

A glassed-in area would connect the boathouse to the chapel, while Siemasko said a “large moveable glass window” on the boathouse would make the lifeboat visible from School Road.

A second firm, H2 Design Studios, has been hired to design the inside of the boathouse like a museum, with opportunities to view the lifeboat from multiple elevations and vantage points. A railing allows visitors to observe the boat from above, while stairs would allow access to the ground level.

“The boat will almost feel like it’s sitting at ground level when you’re looking at it from that lower level, which we think will be really interesting,” Siemasko said.

Stradal said there will be no loss of parking associated with the project, with the existing 41 spaces and two accessible spaces being maintained. He estimated that between seven and 15 vehicles per hour would visit the boathouse, which would operate five days a week for six hours each day.

Stradal estimated the total project cost to be between $3 million and $3.5 million. He said 70 percent of the funding is being sought through state, federal and private grants, and that receipt of those grants is contingent on town support. CHO is asking that an article seeking the lease change be put before voters at the annual town meeting in May.

“If we can’t get a secured site and a strong indication of town support, we’re not going to be able to fundraise for federal, state or foundation grants,” Stradal said. “Because they’ll all ask, ‘What kind of town support do you have?’”

Other funding sources include donations [20 percent] and funding through the Community Preservation Act [10 percent]. But questions were raised about whether CPA money can be used only to fund a portion of a project.

Kevin Galligan, the select board’s representative on the community preservation committee that oversees how the town’s CPA funds are allocated, said Town Counsel Michael Ford has determined that funds can only be used for “the minimum structure necessary to preserve the boat.”

Stradal said CHO is only seeking to finance 10 percent of the project cost with CPA funds, even though he estimated the vessel would take up nearly half of the entire structure.

“But CPC funds projects, that’s my concern,” Galligan said. “If this is the project, we may need to talk with town counsel.”

Town Manager Kim Newman said the CHO project may be eligible for the CPA money, but only if the manner in which money is spent is carefully accounted for.

Questions also were raised about how CHO’s plans for the 139 Main St. property might work alongside those for a new Snow Library. A feasibility task force has identified the site as an alternate location for a new library.

Galligan said the task force will seek a $150,000 commitment from the town toward a new library at the annual town meeting in May. That commitment is needed in order for the town to qualify for a state grant that could help cover as much as 40 percent of the project’s construction cost if awarded.

The town also needs to put forth a primary location for a new library as well as an alternate to be eligible for the funding.

“I want to make super certain that we don’t make any commitments to a site change that would impact that grant before an official location is selected,” Newman said.

Stradal said he’s had conversations with Steve Gass, who chairs the library task force, and that it doesn’t appear the two projects will interfere. He also said the library project is a year or two behind CHO’s plans for the boathouse.

“I understand the pressures you all are facing,” he told the select board. “I just respectfully say that this conversation’s been going on for years, and we can’t wait more years.”

Andrea Reed of the select board, meanwhile, had questions about only making the vessel visible from the outside via School Road. She said the vessel could be better promoted if it was housed closer to, and made visible from, Main Street. That location might also alleviate any potential traffic issues on School Road, she said.

But Cris Harter, CHO’s treasurer, said the goal is to bring people into the new building.

“We want to charge admission,” she said. “We want to create some economy for both Orleans and the historical society.”

The select board did not vote on the matter Dec. 13, but said answers to questions related to the library and CPA funding need to be addressed quickly.

“The absence of all these other questions that have to be answered, my place right now is to support this,” said Mefford Runyon of the select board.

Email Ryan Bray at ryan@capecodchronicle.com