Tower Demolition Most Likely

By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — The Claremont City Council has made preliminary steps in regard to toppling the Sullivan tower smokestack.

At a recent meeting, councilors voted 5-4 in favor of a motion proposed by Councilor Jonathan Stone toward demolishing the aging tower, “I think we have a safety issue; the status quo is someone is going to get hurt down there,” Planning and Development Director Nancy Merrill warned.

Aside from the deteriorating structure of the tower, the discussion over the property was reginited recently when representatives from UCONN held a meeting with residents about potential projects that could happen for a riverwalk in Claremont. Nefeli Bompoti, the Program Manager with the group that led the riverwalk discussion, stated that the costs to rehabilitate both the smokestack, as well as the pump house would be steep. Mayor Dale Girard reminded the City Council that Bompoti said at the meeting that, “unless you’re saving it for historical reasons. It’s in bad shape and there isn’t much to save.”

Merrill received estimates from the group with UCONN in regard to demolish and rehabilitation of the tower. They suggested that demolishing the top 16 feet and making a concrete cap would cost roughly $37,000. Doing a total rehabilitation of the tour would cost the city roughly $260,000 and demolishing the tower outright would run around $140,000. It is also important to note that none of those estimates include the pumphouse in any capacity.

It was suggested, however, by Stone, as well as City Manager John Bohenko, that there may be a local individual who would demolish the tower free of charge as long as the city pays for the cost of equipment. This compelled Stone to make a motion for the City Manager to arrange for the demolition cost quotes, which he later amended to having a cap of $20,000. City Councilor Nicholas Koloski raised an objection to the assumption that the tower should be demolished stating that, “If you take that down, you will not build on that property again.” He also later went on to suggest that developers are drawn to structures such as these and what can be done with them. Stone disagreed saying that, “I think the issue of demolition is a really moot point it needs to be demo’d at this point.”

If the project could be completed with the $20,000 cap, Stone says that is an opportunity that can’t be passed up and should be looked into further. Bohenko did note that there are other stipulations that affect the price of demolition that havent been investigated yet but will be contacting the unnamed individual with the proposed $20,000 cap. He says that things like insurance, hazardous materials and waste disposal would all need to be considered. Bohenko plans to return to the city council at the next meeting with a plan in writing from not only the potential demolisher but one that covers the aforementioned concerns as well.

The motion proposed by Stone was voted in favor by Stone, Girard, William Limoges, Spencer Batchelder, and Deb Matthaeu.