Hundreds petition to save Palm Harbor church building

But the cost of maintaining the activities building may be too much.

By ROBERT FARLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 8, 2000

PALM HARBOR -- The sale of wartime scrap iron helped build the activities building at the former Palm Harbor United Methodist Church, and some residents won't let it be junked without a fight.

Community members say they have gathered several hundred signatures on a petition to save the building, which was scheduled to be bulldozed in coming weeks to make room for a 84-space parking lot.

The new parking lot is part of Palm Harbor's Main Street project, a wide-ranging redevelopment that would add landscaping, resurface some streets and put a new clock tower in the old downtown. The project would also restore the church's historic White Chapel, but raze the activities center and the rest of the church.

With demolition of the 3,000-square-foot building approaching, a group of residents has stepped forward to try to spare the structure, which is more than 50 years old.

"It's an emotional thing for me," said Brenda Brown, owner of the Iris and Ivy flower store on Florida Avenue.

Brown envisions Palm Harbor billing itself as a romantic wedding destination. Couples could get married in the White Chapel and then use the activities building next door for receptions.

"We would be the most romantic town in central Florida," Brown said. She said that other uses for the building could include a cultural arts center, a community meeting center or offices for Downtown Palm Harbor Main Street.

Carl Barron, who oversees the construction and maintenance of all county facilities, said county commissioners might consider renovating the building, but only if the Downtown Palm Harbor Main Street group agrees to maintain it.

The building would require renovations costing about $313,000 to meet current codes, Barron said. He stressed that he has not yet brought the renovation issue to county commissioners.

He estimated it would cost about $20,000 a year to maintain the building.

Although the main church building is scheduled to be demolished within two weeks, the fate of the activities building has been put on hold while the Main Street group studies whether it could raise enough money by renting it out to meet annual maintenance costs. Some members are leery of taking on financial responsibility for maintenance.

"At this point, we're on a fact-finding mission," Brown said. "Some members of the community feel it is worth saving. But we don't know whether we have the wherewithal to do it."

Meanwhile, a group of residents has begun circulating a petition to save the activities building. The structure has a faux-brick facade and was dedicated in 1948.

The petition, which now has several hundred signatures, notes its construction was paid for through fundraisers, including selling scrap iron to the government, by the Woman's Society of Christian Service of the Palm Harbor Methodist Church.

But that doesn't make it historically significant in the county's view, Barron said. There would be some savings if the building were demolished in conjunction with the main church building, but he said the community will be given until Oct. 1 to make its case.

Demolition of the main church building will make way for a proposed county parking lot between Michigan and Georgia avenues.

In October, the county plans to begin renovation of the White Chapel, which was dedicated in 1924 and is intended to be a centerpiece of the downtown revitalization project. The state has awarded a $295,000 grant for the six-month project.

Staff writer Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or at farley@sptimes.com.

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