 |
| The 1870s vintage Tinsley-Lyles House in its setting in the old Heritage Park, where apartments now stand. |
Garland
City Council again kicked the can down the road on what to do with the
vintage Tinsley-Lyles House, affirming its commitment to spend $20,000
more for an architectural and structural study to assess the condition
of the historic dwelling and ascertain possible uses.
In
work session Monday night, council formally removed from next year’s
budget a proposed $75,000 for any actual repairs to the house. Mayor
Douglas Athas said the money could be added back in or increased,
depending on what the study shows and what council determines later.
The
$20,000 is in addition to the $316,028 that the city already has spent
on the historic house since 2013, when demolition of the house was last
proposed.
Becky King of the city manager’s office presented the history of the house, mostly from the time it was first donated to the city in 1979 by Garland entrepreneur Jay Jones to its current unrestored status today. She said numerous groups over the years have proposed restoring the house but without success. Among those was the Leadership Garland 2009 Class, which first thought the restoration could be done with volunteers for about $1,000 but backed out when the estimate at that time came in for $88,960 for exterior work only.
King said Preservation Garland has raised $2,000 and hopes to raise about $900 more before the end of the year—for a total of $2,900—for work on the house.
Becky King of the city manager’s office presented the history of the house, mostly from the time it was first donated to the city in 1979 by Garland entrepreneur Jay Jones to its current unrestored status today. She said numerous groups over the years have proposed restoring the house but without success. Among those was the Leadership Garland 2009 Class, which first thought the restoration could be done with volunteers for about $1,000 but backed out when the estimate at that time came in for $88,960 for exterior work only.
King said Preservation Garland has raised $2,000 and hopes to raise about $900 more before the end of the year—for a total of $2,900—for work on the house.
Restoration
costs for a home the size, age, and condition of the Tinsley-Lyles
House and owned by a governmental entity could easily top $250,000 to
$300,000 or more—and that doesn't begin to count the cost of sustaining
the house year after year.
 |
| Sign from an unknown era sadly illustrates city efforts since 1979 to preserve and save one of Garland's oldest structures. |
Councilmember B.J. Williams mistakenly referred to the Friends of the Tinsley-Lyles House as though it were an existing organization. The embryonic group disbanded and went onto other involvements nearly two years ago after wearying of lack of answers to key questions the group had asked the mayor, a councilmember, and city staff.
Williams asked for nonprofits to return to the city to say in light of the new proposed report what they would do to carry out fundraising endeavors. However, as last week’s blog reported, the single-purpose (fundraising only for the Tinsley-Lyles House) Friends Group ceased to exist after the city stonewalled on answers to three key questions the new proposed $20,000 study ostensibly will answer:
1. What is the ultimate end use for the house?
2. What are the most accurate estimates for restoring/rehabilitating/repurposing the house?
3.
What secret or private agreements has the city made with any other
organizations or persons in regard to the future of the house?
The
questions remained unanswered at the end of Monday night's session,
with the possible exception of vague references to plans for
Preservation Garland to manage and oversee the house.
As my blog series last week pointed out, the
city missed its golden opportunity for fundraising for the
Tinsley-Lyles House when it failed to act swiftly in 2015 in the
afterglow of the success and celebration of the Pace House, another
historic home the city in 2013 planned to raze, but which today is now
in private hands, is beautifully restored and maintained using only
private funds, is generating annual tax revenue for the city, and is
listed as a "Contributing" structure in Garland's Travis College Hill
National Register Historic District.
Instead of capitalizing on the Pace's success, the city instead bungled and stumbled with the Tinsley-Lyles House restoration.
Instead of capitalizing on the Pace's success, the city instead bungled and stumbled with the Tinsley-Lyles House restoration.
Even
though the Tinsley-Lyles House is older than the Pace House, because of
where it is situated now and the foundation on which it rests, the
Tinsley-Lyles structure likely will never qualify for "Contributing"
status on the National Register of Historic Places and, thus, the
accompanying federal and state tax credits that could be used for its
restoration.
Mayor
pro tem David Gibbons noted that much of what King reported about the
expenses for the Tinsley-Lyles House during the past two years was news
to the Council.
“This
city has never committed any usage for these historic buildings except
for storage,” said Gibbons. “We have a museum that
is open only four hours a week, a historic house that no one can access,
and a rail car used for storage." He said the plea for more money for
the Tinsley-Lyles House is occurring while citizens are crying loudly
over potholes in their streets and other infrastructure issues.
District 5 Councilmember Rich Aubin said he supports spending the $20,000 for the study because he wants to see “a full range of what should be done with this building." Without the study and a plan, "the $75,000 is just pulling us down the rabbit hole.”
New District 3 Councilmember Jerry Nickerson said he would like to see the Tinsley-Lyles House in a park-like setting, in more context with its era. He painted a verbal picture of accompanying late 1800s elements, which he quickly noted might require one-half million to a million dollars.
District 5 Councilmember Rich Aubin said he supports spending the $20,000 for the study because he wants to see “a full range of what should be done with this building." Without the study and a plan, "the $75,000 is just pulling us down the rabbit hole.”
New District 3 Councilmember Jerry Nickerson said he would like to see the Tinsley-Lyles House in a park-like setting, in more context with its era. He painted a verbal picture of accompanying late 1800s elements, which he quickly noted might require one-half million to a million dollars.
“I don’t think that there’s any organization in town” that can raise that kind of money, he said.
As
I have said—and will continue to say—now is the time for the City of
Garland to take a tough look at the situation regarding this historic
house and make the difficult decisions. Either paint or get off the
ladder, as the old saying goes.
The concluding portion of my blog series stated that the
city should consider turning the house over to a business use and let
the restoration/renovation be paid for by private enterprise, but that
was not even considered or discussed at the work session.
I'm left wondering how many more years Garland city councils will spend debating what to do with this structure, which already could have been restored by now had the city managed the situation differently.
 |
| The second floor of the Tinsley-Lyles House, which often has been a magnet for homeless. |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comment will be reviewed and posted if it is appropriate. Foul language and intemperate remarks may not be used. This blog does not permit anonymous comments. Louis Moore signs his name to all blogs and he expects those who comment to do the same.