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Citizens come forward to help revitalize Thorne building

MILLBROOK — “Thorne Building Supporters” is what Millbrook Mayor Laura Hurley unofficially dubbed a group of concerned citizens who attended the Village Board meeting Tuesday, June 26. The group handed out at letter at the board’s meeting stating its intent to help revitalize the Thorne building on Franklin Avenue, which is vacant and in disrepair.“We wrote this letter because we care about the Thorne building very much,”Barbara Milo Ohrbach said. “We know it should be restored and put to productive use and time is of the essence. By doing so the village will certainly benefit and start flourishing again. All of you may know we now we have nine empty stores in the village, and this could be a place for people to come. Revitalizing the Thorne building could serve as a catalyst for the village.”Ohrbach said the intent of the letter is to get a public conversation started among like-minded citizens to look at the problems and begin to develop solutions. The letter was signed by Ohrbach, Lorraine Alexander, Mary Keelan, Margo Peter, Eve Propp, Grace Rosa, Janice Silverstone, Maris Val Allen and Julia Widdowson — all village of Millbrook and town of Washington residents.The Thorne building dates to 1895, the year a vote took place by the Village Board when the Thorne family wanted to build a school in the community. The village had to accept the building as a gift, for which there was a vote. The Thorne building operated as a school until the early 1960s, Hurley said. It was the high school and Town Hall was the elementary school (until Elm Drive was built). The Thorne building closed as a school when the high school was built at Alden Place.“What happened in the mid- ‘60s was the school district went to sell the building only to find out that in fact they didn’t own the building,” Hurley said. “The village owned the building, and there was this very intricate reverter clause that was attached to it that the building needed to be used for educational purposes or it would revert back to the heirs.” During the course of the following decades the building served in various capacities, including as offices and as an auditorium for the school district, as a satellite office for Dutchess Community College and as a facility for the Boy Scouts. The village also leased it to the Thorne Project LTD, and principal Michael Downing, with whom the village is currently pursuing litigation.“I have mentioned on several occasions that we are not completely comfortable talking about the future of the Thorne building at this point because we are under contract with Thorne Project Limited, which is the Downings,” said Hurley. “We are moving forward with a couple of different legal actions that we will be discussing in executive session. We certainly agree that something needs to be done sooner rather than later. That’s the only thing preventing us.”Mel Ohrbach clarified to the board that the “Thorne Building Supporters” is a group of volunteers seeking to restore the building and bring it back to use. Hurley said she would have a formal response for the group by the next regular board meeting on Tuesday, July 10.In its letter the group stated the building is a vital part of village’s history and could be used as a place for film, the arts, music, dance or other activities. A member of the public asked Hurley if a movie theater was ever suggested for the building. Hurley said the idea has been presented many times, however the only problem is money.“I did talk to Downing for a moment,” said Ohrbach. “The fact is people really do want to talk to each other. I think we have to really take a step back and start a dialogue and it has to be inclusive, not exclusive. Whatever happens I think the Downings ... have to be included in some way. Their idea was a movie theater too; everybody has the same ideas. We should start with one thing and a movie theater should be it. We just all have to work together to do it.”Widdowson asked if it was an appropriate time for the board to bring everyone up to speed on what the terms of the lease with the Downings and the current situation. Trustee Joseph Spagnola said that it was not an appropriate time to discuss those matters. “On our executive session agenda tonight what I can say is we also obtained a private law firm in Albany that is assisting us with the reverter issues as well as lease issues,” said Hurley. “It’s much slower than we would like it to be, but we have been actively looking at the situation.”Hurley said the lease has been public information for a long time and is the same lease with no changes.“We had the lease and then we were going to make amendments to the lease to quell some concerns about the finances and different things,” said Hurley. “That’s when everything broke down and then the funding apparently was pulled from them and everything fell apart.” Ohrbach said the volunteer group feels it can raise funds and that people will come forward once a practical plan is put together for the Thorne building. Peter asked for the most recent estimate for how much it would cost to bring the building up to date. Hurley said one problem is that everyone defines “up to date” differently.“It is a historic building, and sometimes we talk about full restoration costs and then we also talk about just ‘bit-by-bit,’” said Hurley. “I would say in the range of $3 to $5 million will be needed to clean everything up, and that would address wiring, plumbing, plaster issues with the roof and the [exterior]. We do have some recent estimates from what the Downings presented.”A member of the public asked if the village has considered taking out a bond to fund restoration efforts. Hurley said the village has, but that it only has the authority to raise taxes on village residents, not town residents as well.“We have 1,400 residents and 800 parcels, and I can’t ask them to bear the cost of the complete renovation of the Thorne building; it’s just too much for us,” said Hurley. “That’s why I would like to [call it a] community project, rather than a village or town [project], so we can work together to solve it.”Hurley appealed to concerned citizens and requested they write or record everything they know about the building and share it with the board as it will be helpful in figuring out the future of the Thorne building.

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