Wis. Historical Society approves plans for Colfax Municipal Building
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
Editor’s note: LeAnn R. Ralph serves as a member of the Colfax Elevator Commission.
COLFAX — As part of the application process for the $4.25 million Flexible Facilities grant for the Colfax Municipal Building, the plans have received approval from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt, director of the Colfax Public Library, shared an e-mail message she had received dated June 24 from Madeline Norton, the compliance reviewer at the Wisconsin Historic Preservation Office.
The Colfax Municipal Building is listed on both the Wisconsin and the National Register of Historic Places.
The Colfax Village Board has contracted with Ayres Associates to write the application for the Flexible Facilities grant.
The project to install an elevator for all three floors, rest room facilities on all three floors and to renovate the basement into a usable community space requires approval from the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office.
According to the e-mail message:
“We have completed review of WHS #24-1277, Colfax Library, 613 Main Street. We find that the project will have no adverse effect on historic properties within the APE providing the following conditions are met:
“• Materials of the new addition are compatible yet distinct, keeping in mind the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for rehabilitation for new construction:
New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment.
“• SHPO review of finalized design documents, to confirm addition is compatible with the historic building.
“If your plans change or cultural materials/human remains are found during the project, please halt all work and contact our office.
“Please use this email as your official SHPO concurrence for the project.”
Grant
The grant application is due by 2 p.m. on July 11, 2024, and the awards are anticipated to be made no later than October 1, 2024.
Project completion is required by September 30, 2026, and the final grant report is due by October 31, 2026.
The plans for the building would include a 1,390 square foot addition to the back of the building for the elevator and the restrooms on all three floors that are required by law
The Flexible Facilities Program grant is funded through the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund, which was established through the American Rescue Plan of 2021.
The minimum criteria is that the project must include constructing a new or renovating or expanding an existing library, community center or multi-purpose community facility, and the purchase and/or installation of broadband and/or other digital connectivity technology that provide public access to high speed internet, and directly enable work, education and health monitoring, according www.energyandhousing.wi.gov.
Elevator commission
The elevator fund, for which the elevator commission has been raising money for about the last five years, currently has $145,000 in cash and pledged donations.
Fund-raising activities have included the Colfax Elevator Commission’s thrift sale at the Colfax Fairgrounds in August, the $22 for 22 Steps campaign, events held in the Colfax Municipal Building auditorium and bake sales.
The money has been placed in a restricted fund held by the Village of Colfax and can only be used for the Colfax Municipal Building.
Spending money from the elevator fund is under the control of the Colfax Village Board.
The village received three requests for proposals to write the grant application: Cedar Corporation for $7,000; Ayres Associates for $5,700; and an indication from the West Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission that WCWRPC could write the grant application but would not be able to follow through with the project to completion.
Ayres Associates would administer the grant if it is awarded for the Colfax Municipal Building at a rate of between 6 percent and 8 percent of the construction cost and also would design the project, produce construction documents and would oversee construction of the project.
Members of the Colfax Elevator Commission recommended that the Colfax Village Board move forward with the grant application and pay for writing the grant application out of funds the commission has raised.
The Flexible Facilities Program grant is highly unusual in that it does not require any local matching funds from the municipality.
The Colfax Elevator Commission had been exploring a Community Development Block Grant for the municipal building project.
On an award of $1 million in CDBG funds for a $1.5 million project, matching funds would have amounted to $500,000.
