Citizens' group proposes Black Horse restoration plan

by MIKE BENIGNO

Faced with the pulling of state grant money and a looming developer's deadline, a Springfield Township citizens' group has proposed a three-pronged $1.5 million capitol restoration initiative designed to facilitate the complete exterior restoration of the Black Horse Inn.

The plans, presented to the Springfield Township Board of Commissioners on Dec. 6, were developed by the Friends of Historic Bethlehem Pike after the organization agreed to collaborate with the Black Horse Inn Advisory Committee (BHIAC) and Springfield Township officials to help save the endangered historic structure, which has stood on Bethlehem Pike since the 1740s.

At a Nov. 30 organizational meeting, John Alveti, of the Friends' group, outlined the restoration efforts, which called for the creation of a publicity and marketing group, a fundraising group and a contractor services group that will confer with the BHIAC to put the restoration project into effect.

The plan allocates $1.4 million for restoration efforts, while $100,000 would be set aside for future maintenance, Alveti said. According to the plan, funds for the project will be divided among public donations, institutional support, a leadership initiative and a Springfield Township contribution. Most of the support -- an estimated $750,000 -- would be received from institutional wing, as grant options and donations from organizations that contribute to capital campaigns will be pursued.

Alveti said the fundraising group is poised to begin its first efforts to generate donations by staging a large-scale letter-writing campaign where personalized letters will be sent to over 7,000 addresses on the township's newsletter mailing list. Alveti detailed a financial strategy that projected estimated donation returns, and said that each subsequent fundraiser will help facilitate the next fundraiser, be it a Black Horse Inn inaugural ball, or a program where individuals would be able to sponsor individual construction projects on small levels.

But before any major construction would take place, the inn must be winterized, a process that will include roof work, the rebuilding of a wall that was inadvertently demolished in May, the removal of an unstable porch area, the sealing of the inn's windows with plywood and external regrading to prevent water damage, Scott Kreilick, chair of the BHIAC, said.

Kreilick said several contractors showed interest in the project after a request for proposal was issued, but a recent bid to perform the necessary work for $226,000 plus the cost of labor was recently rejected. Funding for the winterization has been set aside by Springfield Township, Kreilick said.

The proposed initiative comes at a time of growing tension, as a settlement agreement between Springfield Township and Moreland Development LLC, the company that built a Walgreen's drug store and a state liquor store on land surrounding the inn, mandates that all exterior work to the inn be completed within 10 months. If the exterior work is not completed, the inn will become property of the developer, Kreilick said.

Last month, Gov. Rendell opted not to sign a matching grant that would have given $1.2 million to the efforts to preserve the Black Horse Inn. The news dampened the hopes of preservationists who saw a solution to their funding problems, but Springfield Township Commissioner Kathleen Lunn said it ultimately added more fuel to their fire.

Members of the Friends' group said they wished to have Lunn appointed as commissioner liaison of the BHIAC, because the original commissioner assigned to the task, Commissioner Timothy Lawn, did not seem to be showing much interest in the restoration efforts.

"Kathleen Lunn should be the person to report to the commissioners because [the Black Horse Inn] is in her district -- there should be no question about it," one member said.

Lunn, present at the meeting, said that she would continue to work closely with the restoration efforts regardless of whether she was the appointed commissioner.

But Kreilick said if the proposed plan of the Friends' group is supported by the Springfield Township Board of Commissioners, the inn could be saved without having to raise taxes.

"I want to thank citizens for raising the specter and letting it be known that the possibility of demolition will not fly," Kreilick said. "The citizen initiative sparked it all."

A more secure, though unlikely option for the inn: finding a "White Knight for the Black Horse," Kreilick said -- the unlikely entrance of a major private donor to sponsor the project, effectively guaranteeing historic preservation.

Backed by a capacity-crowd at the township's board of commissioner's workshop meeting Monday night, Kreilick requested the board remove demolition as an option for the historic inn. Also, the commissioners heard several pleas to include in the township's 2005 budget the remaining funds initially earmarked for the Black Horse renovation in January.

According to Commissioner Kathleen Lunn, whose district includes the inn, about $145,000 remains from the $225,000 appropriation siphoned from the township's $2.5 million capital reserve account. Architectural firm Kise, Straw and Kolodner received about $80,000 from the township fund for its work in the restoration effort.

Though the board is precluded from taking any official action at workshop meetings, several commissioners suggested they would not rule out demolition. "I don't see how demolition can be taken off the table until the money is raised," said board vice president and commissioner Robert Gillies. "We've wasted six months waiting for money we were told was coming," he said of the vetoed state grant. "If the interest of the people isn't there, I don't see how we can continue wasting taxpayers' money."

Commissioner Robert McGrory also expressed reservations about freeing up further township funds for a project whose future remains uncertain.

With the exception of Commissioner Lunn, who advocated releasing enough funding to start the winterization phase, official talk of eliminating demolition and providing financial aid was slim. The closest any official came was Commissioner Baird Standish, who said he "hoped to table" the demolition option.

The board of commissioners is set to vote on the township budget on Dec. 15.

The board's Dec. 8 regular meeting, where officials were expected to address the Black Horse Inn situation, was scheduled after the Local's press time.

Reporter Michael J. Mishak contributed to this article.